Spiritual Feeding

by CAPEWELL, P. | Category: N/a | Jan 2002

Some time ago, my attention was drawn to Job 9:25,26:

'"Now my days are swifter than a runner;

They flee away, they see no good.

They pass by like swift ships,

Like an eagle swooping on its prey."'

Job's 'runner' would, in all probability, be a messenger travelling on a camel (Esth. 3:13), capable of covering vast distances without pausing for food or water. The 'swift ships', made of papyrus or reeds, sped on their way assisted by river currents, oars and sail to deliver perishable cargoes. The bird of prey, about which Job was well informed (39:26,27), swooped on its prey at speeds of over 250 kph. Examples on land, in water and in the air impressed him as comparable to the rapidity with which his days sped by.

'So teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom' (Ps. 90:12).

Not only does time fly, but the pace of life seems to be constantly gathering speed too. This presents a danger to the Christian. In his book, 'The Forever Feast,' Paul Brand writes with regret that 'mealtime tends to be buffet style. Food is grabbed from the refrigerator as we rush out the door. We may even think our spiritual food should be packaged so that we can take it on the run, with minimal interruption in our lives. However, spiritual food should not be dished out by fast food restaurants. Our spiritual food is life itself.' How important it is that we take time to digest the Word of God!

The Hebrew word translated 'roars' in Isaiah 31:4,

'"As a lion roars,

And a young lion over his prey ..."'

is the same word translated 'meditates' in Psalm 1:2,

'But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.'

Watching a lion with its prey, turning it over, this way and that, stripping it to the bone before licking even that, perhaps hiding it and coming back to it later, gives us the idea behind meditation. It's to be an unhurried, thorough and pleasurable experience from which we are to derive maximum benefit.

Nature has always intrigued me. My father gave me an interest in it from early days. Consequently, a passage that has interested me is Proverbs 30:26:

'The rock badgers are a feeble folk,

Yet they make their homes in the crags.'

From the Encyclopaedia of Bible Animals I learned that rock badgers are conies and the Hebrew word is 'shaphan', meaning hiding. Although they are not truly cud-chewing animals, their jaws are always on the move. The same word was given to Josiah's scribe. He was called Shaphan. How he lived up to his name! 'Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD". And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ... Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king' (2 Kin. 22:8-10). Reading and re-reading! Conies are well characterized as wise, though feeble. How much the people of God need to emulate their chewing habits!

CAPEWELL, P. | Jan 2002
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