August 25, 2020 -- John 7:2 -- Satiated by His Faithfulness

Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.

John 7:2 English Standard Version

This is pivotal information. Jesus had just declared “I AM the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger” John 6:35. As this chapter unfolds we learn Jesus will travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This was a seven-day festival and as the people celebrated it they recognized that God Almighty had provided mana in the wilderness. Six days a week for the forty years of desert wandering there was bread from heaven on the ground available for the people to eat. The mana was available six days a week, and on the sixth day the people were to gather up a double portion so that they did not have to work the next day, on the Sabbath, which was the day of rest. The forty year span stretched between the Exodus and the Israelites’ entry into the Promised Land. Through-out those forty years, the LORD provided water. Later in this chapter Jesus will declare “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:18).

Imagine one million people who left Egypt by the mighty power and outstretched hand of God’s victorious grace wandering in the desert! He fed and sustained His people through-out. It was miraculous. And it was important that the people of the LORD then, and today, understand He provides for our daily needs. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”. In some ways it seems strange to our ears to pray this. I mean, don’t I take care of my own needs? I work. I make money. I shop. I cook the food. This is my doing, right? No!

Who gives you the strength to work? Who gives you the talents and abilities to be employable? Who has given fruitfulness to the fields? Who has provided, in drought years and in plenty for supply systems that allow us, in North America, to enjoy such food security? It is God our Father Who in great faithfulness has given this all. The Christian acknowledges God is our Provider and faithful in all this. Certainly Covid-19 has taught us how vulnerable we truly are. How a little speck of infection can bring the world to its knees! Truly we are dependent on God’s gracious, daily, sustaining care!

More than just a focus on our physical needs, we understand from Jesus’s teaching at the Festival of Booths, that He Himself is the Bread of Life and the Living Water that wells up to eternal life in us. To neglect the daily feast of Jesus the bread of life is to slowly starve oneself. Neglecting to drink this living water means we are dying of thirst. If we are not delighting in Jesus Christ we do not see the vast storehouse of blessings being poured out into our lives! The Spirit of God takes the bible reading and makes it for us living and precious. The Spirit of God connects us to Jesus Christ so that in Him our souls are refreshed, the Living Water wells up within us flowing and overflowing unto eternal life.

Father in heaven, glorious and blessed, Jesus taught us to pray “give us this day our daily bread”. By the powerful presence of Your Spirit in us, may we give you thanks for our physical food and drink and urgently look to the Word to find our truest sustenance, the Living Bread and Living Water—Jesus Christ. Revive us in Him so that our souls will be satisfied and from this place of overflowing blessing sin will lose its appeal because we are already deeply contented in You! Amen.