Prayer and eating

Lois Rae Carlson

Having the humility to pray about food loosens strong opinions about how much we—or someone else—should weigh and helps to quiet any fears we may have about eating. Just as we yearn to understand that God is the source of supply for all our needs (shelter, employment, companionship), so we can accept the fact that God guides all His sons and daughters in a way that simplifies and satisfies, and that stops a preoccupation with food.

Two examples from the Bible that I have found helpful are God's supplying the children of Israel with manna for their meals (see Ex. 16:1-31) and Jesus' ability to multiply a small number of loaves and fish in order to feed several thousand people (see Mark 8:1–9).

Both examples have to do with people putting off their limited views of how food should come to them and humbly admitting the power of God, which was sustaining them. Those experiences of provision may seem like exceptions in the middle of dire circumstances, but they are not. What would hide relevance today is the material abundance of the grocery store, along with the wilderness of theories about nutrition and health that we often encounter. These material elements would prevent us from understanding the spiritual basis on which God sustains His creation—including us.

The completeness of God's creation is confirmed by this statement from Ecclesiastes: "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him" (3:14). The human sense of life, however, is one of constant change because it orients thought to the human body. And so we seem to fluctuate between cold and hot, waking and sleeping, active and lazy, hungry and full.

When we pray about what to eat, we can really pray to honor the fullness of God's provision for man.

The spiritual sense of life in God tells us that, despite this material evidence, we are held in a position of peace, comfort, and satisfaction. So when we pray from this perspective about what to eat or when to go to bed or what activities to engage in, we are really praying to honor the fullness of God's provision for man. This completeness is manifest in a balanced and ordered life in which we are less and less impressed with the biochemical model of existence and its demands that we replenish nutrients in the body. Instead, we eat because, as the Bible shows us over and over again, this is part of God's working in our lives.

Because man is the beloved child of God we can go to the table satisfied, obedient, and receptive to God's care. And we can leave the table at peace, ready to follow where He leads.

PSALMS

Oh that men would praise the Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful
works to the children of men! For
he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth
the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalms 107:8,9

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