The Staff of Life

The staff of life. An expression originating from Ezequiel 4:16 where the phrase "broken staff of bread" is used in reference to a famine. With time, specifically by the 1600s, writers such as Matthew Henry began to use it as we do now. The staff of life. Bread.

One of my grandmother's "superpowers" was the ability to develop the measurements of any recipe she put her mind to. When I was about to get married, I begged her to find the exact measurements for her delicious, soft flour tortillas. My forays into tortilla making had, sadly, been haphazard, a good batch of tortillas appearing intermittently between hard, disgraceful batches. A saying in Mexico is that when a young lady knows how to make a good tortilla, she is ready for marriage. I knew it was just a saying, but somehow it just didn't feel right to enter the hallowed state of matrimony without the ability to render a good tortilla consistently for a meal.

Grandma, as most Hispanic women I knew, just threw ingredients together, making the dough by "feel" rather than using measurements. The reluctance Grandma felt about taking on this first endeavor into developing exact measurements was obvious. Upon hearing my request, Grandma looked down, took a stuttering step back, her demeanor distinctly one of disinclination. But then, a miracle. Squaring her shoulders with determination and lifting her eyes to mine, she said, "I'll work on it." And she did, and her superpower was born. The measurements she came up with have yielded perfect tortillas all my adult life.

The reality is that bread is not only a universal staple—it is delicious. It adds that special "something" to an already excellent meal. Excepting a few peoples who live where staples necessary for any kind of bread are not to be found, almost every ethnic group, every culture on the face of the earth, has some type of bread. Steam buns, tortillas, traditional loaves, flat breads ... the list is endless. Why is bread so universal? That list, too, is long ... simple ingredients, adaptability to local staples, filling, nutrient dense ... Little wonder Jesus called himself "the bread of life:" He is that universal staple that fills us, nourishes us, adds joy to life. How do we know? Because He didn't stop with merely calling Himself the Bread of Life; he also explained the why, "he that cometh to me shall never hunger" (John 6:35).

All the many benefits of physical bread—energy, health, nutrients, satiety, enjoyment? Those and more are to be found spiritually in God's spiritual counterpart, the Bread of Life, God's Word and the Word of God made flesh, Jesus. Verse after verse throughout God's Word extolls these benefits: enduing with joy (John 15:11), guidance (Psalm 119:105), teaching us how to live (2 Timothy 3:16-17), sanctifying (John 17:17), showing us how to think (Hebrews 4:12), cleansing us  (Ephesians 5:26) ... the list goes on.

Interestingly enough, there are two instances in the Bible where someone ate God's words literally. In Ezequiel 3 God gives the prophet an actual scroll written with His Words and Ezequiel eats it. Literally. He describes it thus: "And it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness" (Ezequiel 3:3). That's exactly how God's Word is to us when we read it—so delectable, a source of joy and encouragement.

Ah ... but there is another person who literally ate God's word. In Revelation 8, we find John the Revelator given a little book by an angel and he eats it. Like Ezequiel, he says it was sweet in his mouth; but he adds "and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter" (Revelation 8:10). What does this mean? It means that God's Word is sweet to our soul, but to digest it, to have it go into the deepest parts of our being and allow it to really change us, is not easy. There is a cost. As the body digests food with the help of bitter digestive fluids, to allow the Bread of God to change our spiritual self, we must subject ourselves to bitter elements. Bad attitudes that must be made right, idols and feelings that need to be yielded to God.

Jesus, like Isaiah 50:7 foretold, set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem, knowing exactly what awaited Him there—the cross. Yet He went willingly "for the joy that was set before him" (Hebrews 12:2). Similarly, though going beyond that superficial enjoyment, actually assimilating and digesting God's Word with all our being, might be hard, we will find when we do so that, just like Jesus's suffering, it carries joyful benefits that make the cost absolutely worth it.

It is also of note that digesting God's Word, allowing it to change us, takes time. Just as it takes time to assimilate nutrients into our body, even so it takes time for God's Word to work its glorious changes in our soul. It might take time, it might cost us something, but going beyond merely eating and enjoying the Bread of Life, actually digesting it, gives us life changing benefits that enrich our spiritual life and draw us closer to our Lord.

When I called on Grandma's recipe-making superpower for johnny cakes for my first graders, she went at it with a relish. No internet, limited resources, but she came up with a delectable facsimile of revolutionary era johnny cakes that put the perfect crowning touch on our unit about George Washington. With a sample of that yummy staple of his time in their tummies, my little people became enthralled with all things learned about our first president. May we, like those little children, partake of that enticing Bread of Life, and let it fill us with joy in living for Him.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:7-10).