Fast or Feast
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4
A friend of mine was married a few years ago and moved south, making many changes, including having to leave a church she loved and people she cherished.
She could never understand why her fiancée really didn’t enjoy her church here. She liked his and thought he should enjoy hers – if for no other reason than to please her. In his mind the two were not comparable. She chalked it up to a cultural difference and let it go.
After she had moved and attended “his” church for about three years, she came to visit. When she arrived, her hands were full. She brought CDs of the Pastor’s preaching from her new church. It was biblically sound, exegetical (verse by verse) preaching.
Her thinking had changed. She could now see why her husband had objected to her church. Using her forefinger and thumb about 1/8 of an inch apart she said, “This is how much Bible was in my church here,” and then with her arms spread wide she said, “This is how much Bible is in our church now.” That’s very little Bible compared to a whole lot of Bible. The difference showed in her life.
Even in phone conversations I was able to hear the spiritual growth in her. She was seeing things from God’s perspective. The adjustment to leaving her friends and being married after years of a single life, the transition into a new family while hers stayed “up North”, and going from full time work to “just a wife” for a while were traumatic. But, she could look back and see how God had used these things to grow her faith and her trust in Him.
It wasn’t until this friend had the comparison of longer term teaching of the Word of God that she realized that she had been involuntarily fasting from the Word of God.
In Amos, the prophet prophecies of a time when there will be, “a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11)
My friend’s situation was a few years ago and I have thought about her “fast” many times. She was not deliberately fasting but the lack of teaching of the Word of God was having a definite spiritual effect on her life decisions. When we obey God’s Word we reap His blessings. When we don’t know it, we miss the blessing.
My friend had been warned that the preaching in her church was weak, at best. She enjoyed the beauty of the sanctuary and the people. It wasn’t until she experienced the difference sound doctrine makes in the life of a believer that she was able to recognize how hungry she had been.
Are you hearing the faithful preaching of the Word of God? Does it affect the way you live your life? At this point in time, there is no famine of the Word of God, from God. But, for some Christians, this is self-inflicted famine. In your church, and in mine, are we feasting on the Word of God, or, are we voluntarily fasting from it?