Food No One Knows About

Daily Reading: John 4

Scripture Focus: I have food to eat that you do not know about. (John 4.32)

Devotional Thought: Have you ever gotten so busy working, playing or talking that you kept right on going through lunch?  (Some of us could probably stand to miss a few meals!)  I have a feeling that Jesus was like that often - missing meals because he was engrossed in his work.  He loved what he was doing, and he really focused on his mission.  To him, doing the will of the Father, accomplishing his divinely ordained purpose, was better than eating!  He was sharing the message that burned in his heart: “God loves you!  God has sent me to you so that you can know him and have peace.”

That's what happened when he encountered a woman of Samaria.  This is one of my favorite Bible stories, as Jesus reveals his divine identity to someone from “the wrong side of the tracks.”  Even his disciples didn’t understand what he was doing, why he was talking to her.  They had gone to get food for him, but when they returned, Jesus told them: “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

What about you?  Do you have food to eat that others do not know about?  Do you have a divinely ordained purpose?  Does it burn in your heart until it just has to be expressed?  Does it engage you so fully that you sometimes “work right through lunch”?  That’s the way I want to be about sharing Jesus with those around me.  God help me to be that way today!

Prayer: Jesus, you are the Living Bread come down from heaven.  Give to me hidden manna, that I might feast upon your goodness and be strengthened for the work of the kingdom.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 33.16-22

16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.