Devotion #45

Hi, Everyone.
Today's devotion is from my personal journal dated May 23, 2007. Have a great day, and let me hear how God speaks to you.

     After my quiet time this morning, I decided to see if there was anything on television that I wanted to watch. In flipping through the channels, I came to one of those programs about feeding children. There, on the screen, was this African toddler, with distended belly, sitting on the ground, eating dirt. He was so hungry, he was eating dirt! It broke my heart.
     The Lord used that scene to speak to me. I am not saying that overeating is a sin to everyone, but "any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin"(James 4:17, Amplified Version). Overeating is sin for me, because of how it affects me. When I overeat, my soul feels malnourished and dehydrated.
     I was reminded of Isaiah 44:20, which says, "He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'" I was feeding on ashes, for so long, trying to find satisfaction in something other than God. Ashes contain no nutrients. When I pursued satisfaction in food, I ushered myself into spiritual famine. My soul was parched, malnourished, dehydrated, and, like a very sick baby, I suffered from "failure to thrive."
     No matter what I tried, I could not break free from the hold that food had on me. I failed in diet after diet, because I was weak. I was weak, not in willpower (although I thought I had none) but in God power. I was weak spiritually. My heart and soul were sick, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to find freedom from gratifying my flesh.
     Not having the Lord as Lord of my eating left me famished. I had a void that I tried to fill with food, but it just didn't satisfy. I could eat until I felt I would burst, but it was never enough. Something was always missing.
     It was my spiritual sickness, my eating of ashes. I was in a cycle of hunger-->bingeing--> dieting, hunger-->bingeing-->dieting. It was a cycle from which I thought I could never recover, a fatal illness of my own choosing.
     Now that I've repented of the sin of gluttony and crucified my flesh with the help of the Lord, I am learning to feed on true spiritual food rather than of ashes. And you know what? I lack no good thing. I feel spiritually healthy, sound, and whole.
     I feel "like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatsoever [I] do, [I] prosper"(Psalm 1:3). God and His Word are bringing spiritual health to me, "watering" my "tree," nourishing my heart. I can feel the spiritual growth in how I yearn for His Word more and more, and care less about what food I will eat and when I will eat it.
     When I was indulging my flesh, year after year, I was weakening my character, in that, as a born-again believer, I should have allowed the Lord to rule every part of my life. There was a corner of my heart that I did not allow the Lord to enter. It was pure rebellion, on my part.
     Isaiah 4:6 describes the me I used to be. Part of it says, "Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it; only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil."
     Yes, I was very sick, spiritually and physically. I praise God that Jesus came specifically for "the sick," and "by His stripes I am healed"! Jesus, the Great Physician, performed heart surgery on me, and I was restored to the full, in the area I had previously labeled "Off Limits."
     May I never return to those "ashes." May I continue to feed on Jesus, the Bread of Life, discipline my body, and be in control of it, instead of it controlling me. May I continue to quench my thirst in Jesus, the Spring of Living Water, where I can drink and be satisfied. As my spiritual health is restored, may my physical health continue to be restored. I know it will.
     Jesus wants me to be alert and vigilant, ready to serve God with a mighty, strong body and a healthy mind and soul. I want that, too.

Today, prayerfully consider whether or not you are alert and vigilant, ready to serve God with a mighty, strong body and a healthy mind and soul. If you find that you are lacking in any of those areas, ask for wisdom to know what to do about it. Listen to Crystal Lewis singing "Beauty for Ashes." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYe1pZwUtkI

Blessings,
Mary