"Oh satisfy us early with your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!" Psalms 90:14
When I was a kid, my family liked the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I remember, even as a grade-schooler, sitting on the couch for an hour or more, reading story after story in those books and I didn't even enjoy reading! I think I read them because something in me yearned for the hope that they gave. I wanted to believe that in life, with all its twists, turns, and bumpy roads, there was something glimmering in the distance that provided me with a reason to go on and think that things would ultimately be okay. But enough was never enough. I was left wanting something more.
Then, I became a follower of Christ. I believed in The Hope of salvation. I knew that whatever happened in this life, there was something to look forward to: eternity with my Daddy. I would picture the party that was going on up in heaven (some people dream about the streets paved with gold, some love to think on the questions they will get to ask the saints that have gone before and some are comforted by seeing their loved-ones)! I imagined a party where Jesus was doing the "Carlton" and Peter was walking so boldly up to the Father and giving him a high five (fist pumps weren't cool back then).
However, I still tried to cling to any hope on earth I could find. Don't get me wrong, I know the Bible is filled with hope for eternity and a future. In fact, it kind of drives me nuts when someone has a bad day and the verse about Him giving us a hope and a future gets used so flippantly because it goes so much deeper than that (but that is another story). I would even tell people that we have a hope in Jesus that he never leaves us nor forsakes us, but it is really the true test to see how we live.
I am not sure when it happened, but at some point in my adult life, I decided that I didn't want to live my life, getting beat up and plundered during the week only to come crawling through the doors of Church on Sunday morning begging for a morsel of "food" from Him. But I was left with a variety of questions...how do you not be that way? what acts as food in your spiritual life? Can you combat the attacks successfully? And if so, how?
Fast forward some years in my life and I am now a church planter, senior pastor, mom who is trying to teach my children, and general mentor to a few people. I was sitting in Starbucks with a re-kindled relationship God blessed me with. We were talking about preaching. God had asked her to share something that went against the status quo for Sundays. I encouraged her to do it because it sounded like the Lord to me. It was simple. It was filled with truth. It was the story of mercy. And, it went with my motto: it is always simple but it isn't always easy!
Then we spoke a few days later and something came out of my mouth that was totally the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit said to us, "You need to go and tell them what I have said because my people are hungry and this might be the only "food" they get all week." Wow! Even Peter in Acts preached the same thing over and over. What was it? The mercy message of the gospel. Could that be the food people are looking for? Could that one message alone be what satisfies my Spirit over and over again?
That single message is food for our Spirit. It says that there is a God, who is real. He has the power to speak things into existence. He also has the power to annihilate you with a word but He chose not to. He is your Daddy who, when humankind screwed everything up and made it impossible to be with Him, went to great lengths to get you back! He is the one who is the definition of what I sought for so long: He has the power (and the right) to punish you and still he chooses to give you grace and forgiveness. Hallelujah! He is the happy ending to your story! He is the Hope to your life! And He is the food for your Spirit....
