In the creation account in the book of Genesis of the Bible, we can read that God created food and if you noticed, He created food before He created man. God was saying that He will be our provider. God knows we will be needing food in this life, so He provided those first before He created us.
Food
Food by a simple definition is any nutrient-rich material consumed or absorbed by humans, animals, or plants in order to sustain life and growth. The major sources of food are animals and plants.
https://byjus.com/question-answer/what-is-food/
Animals and plants are the very main sources of food for humans God had created.
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. Genesis 1:29-30.
Can you imagine a world without food? We will just wake up every day, work all day and sleep at night. So boring right? There is something that food gives to humans. Food is one of the reasons why we have the excitement to wake up the next day. Food preparation takes a lot of time and it’s okay because it is always worth the wait.
Poverty
In 2021 an estimated 698 million people, or 9% of the global population, are living in extreme poverty – that is, living on less than $1.90 a day. Over one-fifth of the global population live below the higher $3.20 poverty line (1,803 million people), and over two-fifths (3,293 million people) live below $5.50 a day.
https://devinit.org › resources › poverty-trends-global-reg
Nine percent may look low but it is composed of 698 million individuals who are not having decent foods on their tables. People are dying all around the world because of malnourishment and hunger. This is not what was in the mind of God when He created food for humans. He wanted for His creation to enjoy food. But why is this happening?
Paradise Lost
When Adam and Eve were in the paradise of Eden, everything was provided but because of sin when they disobeyed God, they were sent out from Eden. This is what God told Adam.
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19.
Curse
One of the punishments of sin is curse. It is heartbreaking because we could live a life of abundance if we did not rebel against God. Unfortunately, we can do nothing about it anymore because it already happened and it can not be undone.
Worry Not
But thanks be to God because there is a comforting truth in the New Testament about having a provision of food from God. Jesus was telling his disciples to not worry about food.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 5:25-33.
Jesus & Adam
Jesus brought back the blessings that Adam lost when he disobeyed God in the paradise of Eden. Seek first the kingdom of and his righteousness and all the blessings and provisions will be given to us.
The Psalmist said in Psalm 37:25 “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.”
Relationship with Jesus
Provision comes to those who have a relationship with God. Again, God is the creator of food, so it means He is more than able to give us everything we need and want.
How about you? Do you have a relationship with God? If not, receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior of your life now.
God to Provide
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sickness. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:14-21.
This is the famous story of when Jesus fed the five thousand. But take note that the five thousand were only men. Matthew did not count the women and the children. There could be around twenty thousand people there.
God’s Delight
We can see here that the heart of God is to provide food for people because feeding the hungry is an opportunity to share the love of God and tell them about the gospel.
When we meet the felt needs of people around us, they will be open to the gospel. That is why a feeding program is one of the best approaches to sharing the good news. As their stomachs are full their hearts are ready and open to be filled with the word of God. No one would like to listen when stomachs are empty. This is one of the reasons why God created food.
Jesus the Bread of Life
One of the controversial moments in the life of Jesus during his more than three years in the ministry can be read in John 6:25-59 which is entitled I Am the Bread of Life.
The people were shocked when Jesus said in John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
The people thought that Jesus was promoting cannibalism. Their astonishment was somehow validated in verse 51 when Jesus said “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Backsliding
The result is this in John 6:66. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Many of the followers of Jesus no longer followed him.
Jesus is Life
Jesus confronted his disciples in John 6:67-69 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
This is my prayer as you read this post, that no matter what happens in our lives, we will choose to believe and say that we belong to Jesus Christ alone.
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