WEEK 50 – DAY 1
CRAVE SPIRITUAL FOOD
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desireG1971 the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3
G1971 ĕpipŏthĕō -– (to yearn): to dote upon, i.e. intensely crave possession (lawfully or wrongfully): – (earnestly) desire (greatly), (greatly) long (after), lust.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
My first granddaughter had a low pulse-oxygen level at birth and was whisked away to a neonatal ICU at another hospital. One indication that she was still having trouble when I arrived in Virginia a few days later was that she did not want to take her bottle. A few sucks on the nipple, and she was done. It took much patience and time to get her to drink the required number of ounces. A few months later, as a healthy thirteen-month-old, she would wake up asking for “more milk”. It is natural for a baby to crave nutrition. A lack of appetite, a reluctance to nurse, is an indication that something is wrong. When a baby is not gaining weight and won’t or can’t take in nutrition, the diagnosis is “failure to thrive.” As newborn babies crave mother’s milk, we should earnestly desire the spiritual nourishment we get by reading and studying our Father’s word. We should not suffer from spiritual failure to thrive. If we fed a baby on Sunday morning, she would be wailing for another bottle in just a few hours. She certainly wouldn’t wait until Wednesday night to eat again! Yet, that is how we treat spiritual food. Once we have tasted God’s grace, it should leave us with a longing, a hunger, for more of Him. The way we feed that craving is by studying His word and living in obedience to Him. Are you failing to thrive in your walk with the Lord? Are you refusing to take in the nutrition He has so graciously provided by studying His word?
Father, remind us to feed on Your word daily. Thank You for giving the Bible to us. Thank You that we live in a country where Bibles are readily available, and we need not feed on it in secret.