Wanting More than Food

Knowing the cook can be an even greater pleasure than enjoying his food.
-Larry Crabb, Finding God

Regardless of a person’s circumstances and physical well-being, this statement applies. Of course there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the food. But knowing and tasting God is the point. How quickly I forget. For the most part, God exists and becomes a help in solving problems. A resource to notify when pain needs to be taken away. Much like a doctor who prescribes medication.

Listen to your prayers throughout the day. Are they centered on “God, this situation is hard, help me clear it up and get through it,” or “God, I don’t know what to do and the pain is real. Help me to trust that you are good regardless of what the outcome is”? When in pain or struggle, I tend to approach someone older and wiser in an attempt to have my pain cured or problem solved. Just get me through this and stop the hurt. How many counselors make their living off situations like these?

We all desire Life. Jesus promises it (John 10:10). It just doesn’t happen the way we want it to. My God, how maddening. The chaos of life threatens our homes built on the sand. How sweet of a resting place it would be to experience the following story:

You and I walk into a 5-star restaurant. Before we can give the host our name and table preference, she welcomes us by name, tells us the chef has already notified her of our arrival, and she brings us to our seats. The menu given to us is personally tailored to each of our tastes. As we look over the choices, our mouths salivating and our stomachs growling, we suddenly realize the food is not why the restaurant was built. Setting the menus down, and skipping the wine, we head towards the kitchen, this time it’s our hearts that ache. Before we even reach the doors, they swing open and the cook is running our way.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Psalm 34:8

The Father's Heart

Hello. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was full of family, laughter, and many thoughtful gifts. One of mine was this Palm Treo phone. I don’t need it, but I love it. My dad gave it to me. But to tell you that does not do the story justice. You see, a number of Christmases back my father bought me a cheap little black-and-white Palm pilot. I played with it all morning long. The next year he brought me shopping to pick out a top-of-the-line Pocket PC. Though I knew what I was getting, he would not let me touch it until Christmas. He absolutely delighted to watch me play with it while everyone else opened presents. That Pocket PC lasted me three or fours years. Each year though, he asks if there is anything electronic he can buy for me. This year I let him. Because my dad is overjoyed to see me happy.

Last blog I suggested that dealing with the circumstances of life has everything to do with our interpretation. Along my journey, many people have contributed to my perspective. These interpreters have helped shape the conclusions I make about life. In any given person’s life, I don’t believe anyone has more influence than the father.

The Bible describes God as Father. I have an intuit sense of this thanks to experiences like this Christmas. I know what it means not only to have a father delight in me, but one overjoyed to bless me. Luke 12:32 gives a glimpse into the Father’s heart. Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Jesus knew His Father. He knew it was essential to hear the Father’s delight in Him (see Luke 3:21-22). Now it makes sense to me why he would want to pass it along to us. Something so wonderful as a father’s delight moves us to desire to pass it along to others. But before we pass it on, just like Jesus, we must enter in and know the Father’s heart for us.

15. D is NOT the Answer

"Sir, are you trying to trick us?”

“That means we should put D because he probably trying to confuse us.”

“I’m putting D! That means to put D!”

In three of my five classes today, I had students respond in this way upon seeing my board. There was a test today. It never fails that I have a student in first period visit my desk halfway through the test after discovering an error. Why can’t I ever create a test without errors? Nevertheless, it happened again this morning. One of the errors was on #15, and so to help the students, I wrote on the board: D is not the answer.

Students suspected a conspiracy. I was baffled. Would the teacher really scheme against them in hopes of fooling them into a poorer grade? Don’t they know I deeply want them to succeed? Even after I tried to assure them D was not the answer, one or two still publicly questioned it. Don’t they trust my heart towards them?

Then it hit me: I wonder if a similar scenario occurred in the garden. God has just created everything to perfection. Everything was good; He said so. Adam and Eve had a whole world to discover and explore. We don’t know how much time existed between God resting and the Fall, but I’m assuming it was long enough for the newly weds to take some walks in the garden with God. He was there, present and accounted for. No absentees on record. They had the chance to know him, to ask questions, to get to know his heart for them.

In the midst of this time, he wrote on the dry-erase board: Do not eat from that tree. I can hear Adam and Eve giving familiar responses: “Sir, are you trying to trick us? That means we should eat from the tree, right? God is probably holding something good from us.”

I can’t believe it; those two had the chance to literally walk with God in the garden, engage his heart, and yet, they distrusted it. Adam and Eve doubt God’s intentions. That’s no different than my students. No different than me when things don’t go the way I want them to. I have trouble believing God’s intentions towards me are good. Especially during hard circumstances or when I read His commands, yet want to disobey them. And yet, plainly the life of Jesus proves the intent of His heart.