Today I had a realization. First a little background...my children have been picky eaters lately. It seems that every food that was healthy and nutritious and loved by them for most of their little lives is suddenly disgusting and not even worth trying. It's frustrating as the cook and provider of their meals to watch this. I know how nutritious these foods are for them, and how much they can benefit from ingesting them. I know how good the foods taste and how much they would love them if they would only sample them. Just the tiniest little bite would change their minds and they would be hooked, but they won't even give it a chance.
Today I realized that's how some people are with the Lord. How many times do they wait on their healing? How many times do they reject the good things that they need that the Lord has prepared for them...salvation even. Why shoudl they give it a shot? It's too risky. What if they don't like it? What if they can't go back? So it's better to just not even give Him a try. What if it's not real...nothing will change. They want to stay where it's safe (one foot in the grave, totally deceived.)
Then the Lord turned the tables on my thoughts...suddenly I looked a step further. What about believers. How often do we do the same thing with our worship & walk with the Lord. We so often draw a line with Him. "Lord, I will let you do this thing...and I'll consume only this much, but after that, I'm done!" "Lord, I'll worship you this much, but if you do this, this or this, I quit. I won't open my mouth any more." "I'll give you this much control of my life, but these other areas are mine, and mine alone." "I know what I like and it doesn't matter what You say I need." And how sad on our part....when He's made the preparations. He is holding exactly what we need...what will be for our benefit. How badly must that grieve Him and His Son. All that work...and we won't open our mouths and receive our sufficient portion. A prophetic worship leader once said something that sticks in my mind...if we're measuring out our offerings to the Lord, then we really haven't realized His worth. Are we measuring out our life, our worhsip and our offerings to the Lord?
Everynight my husband and I pray over our children before they go to bed. Lately I've been including a line where I pray that they will crave healthy, nutritious foods that will nourish their bodies. I feel I should be praying the same thing over my spiritual life with the Lord. "Father, let me crave what I need from You. Let me open my life up to you...I will consume all that You have for me...Consume me with Your fire, and Your unending mercies."
