Bread of God

God loves us so much that He provides for our every need. Not only does He provide for our need. He goes beyond our need and provides for wants we don’t know we have. When the children of Israel left Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness, they grew hungry, and they grumbled against their leaders, Moses and Aaron. Did they ask God for food? Evidently not. They simply griped and complained. When God heard their complaints, He answered them and met their need by raining down a white substance from the sky that could be made into bread. Scripture says it was like coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers with honey. (Ex. 16:31) For forty years, because He loved them, God provided His bread (the manna) to meet their need for food in order to sustain their bodies in the wilderness. But He didn’t stop there.

God’s people also needed food that would feed their souls and their spirits. They may not have been aware they even had that need. But God knew it, and He provided for it. In the Gospel of John Jesus says, "...I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world." We know from Scripture and from Jesus’ own words that the manna that sustained the body was only a small part of what God had planned for His people. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35) In other words God wanted to go beyond feeding our bodies. He wanted to feed our spirits so thoroughly that we would never hunger or thirst for anything again that wasn’t Him. And He did it without our ever asking. Indeed we didn’t even know we needed such a thing!

In John 6:41 Jesus says, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven." How much clearer could He say it? In other words I meet your need for food and for drink for your body, for your soul, and for your spirit. What more could God do for us? That seems like every need we could have is met! But because God loves us He wants to do even more than that!

In John 6:48 Jesus says again but in a slightly different way, "I am the bread of life." What more could God do for us? He goes on to say, "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread, which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die." Not die? Did we dare think that we needed that? Again Jesus says, "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven." Okay, we’re starting to understand that. But then He goes on, "...if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever..." Wait a minute! Now Jesus is telling us that God is going way past what we thought was possible. He’s surpassing any thought we might have about what we thought our need was by miles! He’s talking about eternal life.

Jesus says again in verse 48, "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever." It takes several times of Jesus saying this outrageous thing for it to sink in. He goes on to say, "Does this cause you to stumble?" In other words, is this too hard for you to believe? Did you not know that God loves you this much?

When Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus He tells him, "For God so loved the world..." And in John 10:10 Jesus says, "...I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly." Could it be that what Jesus has to say about the bread of God is only a small glimpse of what an abundant life is like. Could it be that we think so small we cannot get past only what we need? Could it be that God wants to give us infinitely more than what we need?

In 1983 I had a dream where Jesus said to me, "I offer you the whole loaf, but you only take crumbs." It was a surprising and eye-opening dream. But I doubt that it is all that unusual. Like the children of Israel we all tend to focus on our needs. Because our needs make us uncomfortable, and we don’t like to be uncomfortable. But I submit that God loves us so much He is holding out to us an abundant life that is beyond our wildest expectations. In fact His gifts to us are so beyond our imaginations we cannot comprehend the greatness of them. We must, however, stop being afraid of God and of what He might ask of us. We must fortify ourselves with His word so that our faith is strong enough to receive all that God wants to give.
God loves you so much, He wants to rain down on you an abundant life. He wants to give you more than your needs require. He wants to bless you beyond your dreams and imagination. Stand tall. Open your arms. And receive the whole loaf of the bread of God.

Copyright 2009 Gloria Fisher.
All rights reserved.