If you’ve been to the grocery store recently in a city near you it wouldn’t be surprising if the shelves are half emptied out. The coronavirus pandemic has people on edge and they are storing up, working to make it through the quarantine.
And honestly I do have to admit that one of the bigger challenges of staying home is missing the fresh food. I long for more fresh fruits and vegetables and yet last time I chopped, I couldn’t even find celery, carrots or potatoes. And yet every time we go to the store we take a risk as shopping cart handles are touched by many and sanitizer wipes are just not going to cut it.
It reminds of times too when I’ve lived overseas. You can pretty much adapt and enjoy much of your new culture, but there’s a part of you that always misses your own food. What we eat runs deep into our souls.
The Israelites faced the same issue. They longed for the food that they were used to having in Egypt, they grew quickly tired of Manna every day, and they demanded of Moses where the “promised land flowing with milk and honey” was because they weren’t experiencing it. And the land of Egypt was the land “flowing with milk and honey.”
Num 16:13 “Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!”
Food can be very revealing about what’s in our hearts. Are we willing to suffer with less than what we want?
- Am I willing to shut myself away and shop significantly less in order to offer more protection for aging family?
- Am I willing to eat healthy to honor the Lord with my body?
- Do I complain about what I have and don’t have (especially during extended times overseas) and just call it “longing”?
