A Feast for Our Souls

The written Word of God is one of the greatest gifts that the Creator has bestowed upon His creatures. Only the gift of Himself in all His triune glory surpasses this gift. Even the gift of Himself would be poorly discerned and little understood if it were not for the Scriptures. For it is in and through the Scriptures that we find the record of His dealings with man and with man’s responses over time. The Bible is filled with stories that trace the handiwork of God from before the beginning of time right through to the end of the world. What a wonderful gift to know the past and future history of the world and to be able to witness His involvement and interactions with His people both individually and corporately.

The Word of God is so rich a varied. No other purported holy book has the wealth of literary styles or the scope of history and perspective contained in the Canon of Scripture. The many colored hues highlight various aspects of God’s nature and character as well as revealing the bright spots and dark blotches of the human soul in relation to Him. The Bible is simple enough to be read and understood by a child, but deep enough to perplex even the most educated scholar. What work of human hands or even demonic revelation can compare to the Word? Even a cursory look at other options reveals that nothing is worthy of compare.

The Word is like a banquet with many courses prepared by a master chef, each course different from the others but somehow complimenting one another. The opening courses set the stage and draw you in. They whet your appetite with subtle flavors that tantalize and intrigue. They draw you in with their aroma and texture and prepare you for what is to come. Some courses are so hot and spicy that they are hard to swallow. They shock our senses with their pungent spices and earthy aftertaste. They surprise us and are not altogether pleasant, but here too is the familiar flavor that piques our interest and makes us wonder what the next course will be. Some of the courses are meaty and dense. Like a roast that you must cut into with a sharp knife but the work of carving is rewarded as you savor the scent as the meat is revealed. They take longer to chew and digest, but there is a satisfaction as they go down into your innermost parts. They only yield their rewards to those who are willing to take the time to chew them and tease out the full flavor. No fast food this; this is a rich meal to be slowly devoured. Other portions are light and sweet they fill us with joy as we taste them. They remind us of happier times in the past, or lift our eyes up to those yet to come. These light courses fill us with hope for the journey ahead. The banquet is so rich and the chef so masterful that there is something perfect for us in each portion. If we will only come to the table, we will find the food that we so desperately need.

God has lavished us with His love. He has given us this world over which to be stewards. He has given us all good things to enjoy. He has given us each other to care for and learn from. He has given us the Word made flesh in Jesus. He has given us His Spirit to indwell us. He has given Himself to us as our Father and our King. He has given us His written Word to make us aware of His extraordinary generosity and to serve as an unchanging reminder. All other sources of revelation are more subjective and personal, more open to interpretation. But in the Bible we have the stories of God authored by God through the pens of His prophets and apostles. This is the immutable standard by which we can measure all other supposed revelations. As we develop familiarity with the flavors of this magnificent banquet our palates are trained. The more we dine on this sumptuous fare, the more we hunger for it even as we are satisfied by the now recognizable flavors. The more we eat of the delicacies that He has stored up for us the more easily we can discern subtle rot of the spoiled fare that the enemy would feed us. Let us tuck in to the table of God and sate ourselves on this feast for our souls.