Food for the journey

Any of us who have ever gone on a long hike somewhere know that part of preparing for such a hike is eating a good meal before leaving so that we do not get hungry on the journey. This is especially true if we are not sure if there will be anywhere to buy food or find water on the way. Having a good meal before going on a long hike is just like filling up our car with Gas before taking a long trip – it is a matter of common sense – one that probably seems obvious to most of us. But for some reason many people do not apply this same principle to their spiritual journeys and unfortunately often pay a dear price for their lack of preparation.

In Matthew 15:29-31 Jesus held a large healing service on the top of a mountain. For three days the crowds came to him, bringing their lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others who were sick, and laid them at the feet of Jesus. And verse 31 tells us simply that, “He healed them.” Verse 31 says that because of the wonderful things Jesus was doing, the crowds marveled and “glorified the God of Israel.” (I’m not sure exactly what this consisted of, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a nice quiet singing of two or three pre-chosen hymns!)

Then, in verse 32 Jesus called his disciples and said, “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” For three days the crowds had sat and listened to Jesus’ teaching and been healed of their diseases. But now it was time for the meeting to end, and them to return to their homes. Jesus could have just sent them away but his compassion compelled him to do more. In Mark 8:3 Jesus said, “If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

This passage reveals a powerful principle about being prepared for journeys. Notice specifically that Jesus was concerned that if the people they did not eat something before leaving – especially those who had a long journey ahead of them to get back home – they might “faint on the way.” Remember, these people did not just jump in their Sports Utility Vehicles and head back home. These people had come to this meeting on foot, some of them walking many miles and many of them with small children, and that was how they were going to go home. So Jesus’ concern that some of them might “faint on the way” was a very legitimate concern.

We all know that our bodies must have food in order to have the energy and strength necessary to take a journey. But the same thing is true of spiritual journeys as well. When we set off on a journey of faith, we usually do not know what we will encounter on the way. For this reason we need to have the foresight to have a large, nutritious portion of God’s word before taking such a trip. In Galatians 6:9 Paul admonished us, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” And the likelihood that we might “become weary” and so “give up” before completing a journey of faith depends largely on how well we eat before we set out on that journey.

This same principle is seen powerfully in 1 Kings 19:5-8. In this story Elijah is sleeping under a tree when the angel of the Lord wakes him up and tells him to eat. Elijah eats the bread and water that were prepared for him and falls asleep again. The angel then wakes him a second time and tells him, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” Essentially the angel was telling him that if he didn’t eat some more, he would not have the strength to make the long journey he was about to embark on. The is seen clearly in the next verse: “So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

I don’t know what journeys of faith you may be about to embark on today, but I do know that if it a journey of any length and you don’t want to “faint on the way” then you had better have a nice big helping of the Word of God!