Skip to main content

Bread of Angels


          When the Lord heard them, he was furious; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel, for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance. Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. (Psalm 78:21-25) 

                I put my back out this morning trimming along my raised beds, so while I spent time on my back on an icepack, I opened my Bible randomly to II Samuel 1. I’m not including it here because it’s long, but it includes a song that David wrote after hearing of the death of King Saul and Prince Jonathan. It’s understandable that he’d sing about Jonathan. They were friends, but Saul had been trying to kill David for at least seven years. But the song isn’t about how David’s enemy finally got what was coming to him. 
                In today’s passage, God is described as being angry. Israel was, well, being Israel, and they’d rebelled repeatedly. God punished them, but even in the middle of the punishment, He never stopped feeding them the “bread of angels.” 
                We have a tendency to want to cut people off. Those who disagree with us, those whose pain doesn’t measure up to what we think is “real pain,” we want to dismiss them. That’s not the principle in today’s passage. If Saul had killed David, he would have declared a celebration throughout the land. In fact, we have seen such celebrations. When a nation the Muslim countries hate faces a crisis or is defeated, they celebrate. When accused terrorist leaders have been hunted down and killed by American troops, Americans have celebrated. I have little doubt that if Mr. Trump were to die of a heart attack (or better yet, COVID-19) there would be parties across the world. But this is not the pattern of behavior set forth in Scripture. 
                David wept when Saul and Jonathan died. He wrote a song and taught it to the nation. While God punished Israel, He still fed them and protected them. As a people, we may have to put a serial killer or serial rapist to death or take out a terrorist enemy. We may have to put someone in jail who insists on deliberately spreading COVID-19. But, contrary to human nature, we should not find pleasure in it. Nor should we mistreat the person we have marked for death. They still get fed the “bread of angels.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more