Dont Complain About Food

Don’t Complain About Food

4/16/12

My trip to Haiti taught me some valuable lessons concerning the importance of food and the availability that we in western society have regarding this subject.  Not everyone in our own country has enough food to fill their stomachs on a continual basis, so how is it we who do have food continually complain about what we intake.  There have been many examples throughout history that paint a gruesome picture when the food supplies dwindle and the effects that this condition has upon its society.  Many times we carry this complaint into the spiritual side of things as well which sets us up on a plane to be cut down like chaff.

I am going to begin this message with another part of my Haiti trip and this part will concentrate on the food aspect of things.  I am not going to go into too much detail about this issue but a couple of things I need to say to set the tone of this message.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and it has no intentions to change this stature anytime soon.  Its government has literally raped the country of its resources and has totally enslaved its people by languishing them in extreme poverty; and that is the good news.  Haiti’s food situation is one of a unique matter in which if you have money you eat somewhat properly and if you do not have money, then you steal whatever you can to obtain something to barter with for food.  I am not talking about a decent meal I am talking about a piece of bread.

I remember walking into one of the houses in a neighborhood and looking into the one room place where over 20 people lived.  The one room served as every type of “comfort” that a family could have including the kitchen and food storage area; these people had nothing but our guide said that if you knew these people they would be grateful just to have a roof over their head.  As I looked around I saw no pantry, no stove, no oven or even skillet to cook food in all I saw was an empty room.  These people did not know if they would eat that morning, or that evening.

I went back outside and returned to the sidewalk from which all of us had come and began to look around at some of the people that we had passed a while ago.  I recognized some of them and asked our guide who they were, and this is when I received my eye opening experience to beggars.  Our guide informed us that we could spend all day giving our money to these people and we would not begin to scratch the surface of the number of people begging on the streets.  He also stated that we need to be very careful of whom we gave since the Voodoo church would send people out to beg for the church.  Mothers would also intentionally break their children’s limbs in order to make them better beggars in other people’s eyes.

This explanation came as another shock to my system, since I had not been in any encounters with beggars in my life this experience was another reality blow to my way of thinking.  That evening we went into the mountains to eat at a restaurant.  A small house actually which served the French tourists on a regular basis.  The meal was simple but adequate and the restaurant provided a beautiful overlook to the city of Port au Prince.  It was amazing how darkness could provide a different backdrop to an otherwise filthy looking city in the daylight.  We had a nice time in the restaurant and the service was a real treat.  As I panned the room I noticed that the establishment was not too busy, only about one quarter full to be more exact and it was not looking like business was going to be picking up either.  While this meal was refreshing it confused me even more about the status of this country, a place where no birds sang or even flew about your head, the skies were blue but empty of life.

My parents had always told me that I should never be picky about the food I ate or turn my nose up at food that was placed before me, since one day I might not have any to fill my stomach.  This concept was far from my mind until I arrived in Haiti.  I received a firsthand account of many people who did not have an ounce of bread to eat, and there I at complaining that I had to eat a vegetable that would allow me to have a strong immune system.  The Haiti trip taught me a valuable lesson concerning food and I am passing it along to you, enjoy the food that God has provided you to eat and do not waste it because unless this country changes it ways, I honestly believe there will come a time when God will shut up the food coffers and this country will know what it means to be hungry.

I know it is a difficult concept to sell to our children when we have all the choices that surround us but it is important that we show our children the value of food and that nutrition comes first instead of taste and flavor.  Quality overcomes quantity and a balanced meal serves our overall health in a much greater capacity so that our minds can function properly.

A story comes to mind that occurred many centuries ago and it dealt with people who complained about the food that they had been receiving.  See God had performed a great miracle in order for these people to leave the land in which they were considered slaves.  They had once been free to come and go in that country but over time had becomes slaves to the ruling government.  They had become accustomed to their environment and had accepted the blindness that was placed over their eyes in the form of complacency.

When it was time for these people to leave the land that they had been living in, excitement filled the multitudes for their hopes had been renewed in such a way that they once again turned to God for deliverance.  This deliverance was something that had been granted to them and they now had to decide what to take and what to leave behind.  They knew the trek was going to be long but they had confidence that God would not allow them to walk for too long of time in the desert.  They had no idea of what god had in store for them, see God recognized that these people needed to be free of the things that their living conditions had provided them and had attached to them.  In other words, they had lived in an enslaved condition for so long that they failed to see what their overall conditions had become.

While these people were walking in the desert they began to realize that their food supplies were steadily dwindling and as the hunters would return empty-handed, concern began to rise as the days became weeks and so forth.  These once joyous people began to complain about the food conditions to the leaders of the groups.  The leaders knew that God had delivered them from their captivity but they also heard the grumblings of the people and knew that serious problems would arise if conditions did not change soon.  How could they doubt God and His blessings upon He had bestowed upon them.  As promised God did deliver food to these people and at first the food was received as a blessing and it brought great joy to the people and the grumblings ceased for the time being.  But as time passed the people grew tired of the same food day after day and once again began to grumble to the leaders.  The people missed the flavors and spices of their old land and wished to once again return to their captives to live in the conveniences that they had and failed to see that God was actually delivering them from the old habits that they had fallen into which allowed them to become slaves in the first place.  They were longing to become slaves once again and God had invested too much time in their lives to allow this process to end prematurely.

The grumblings of the people began to get louder by the day so much so that the complaints about the food became deafening to some of their leaders who in turn began siding with the people and joined in the grumbling campaign.  Many questions come to mind concerning this situation and the first one begin how could they complain about food that was provided to them on a regular basis in which they had to do little in order to obtain this food.  The amount of food was adequate for all of their needs and it even came out of the sky at a set time of the day. 

These people became so angry with the leaders that they began to rebel against them and had thoughts of refusing to eat, a hunger strike if you wish, out in the middle of the desert.  Not a brilliant move if you ask me and according to God not His idea of obedience either.  As the story goes, God got tired of their attitudes and opened the ground up and ironically had some of these people for lunch.  Now, if you ask me this story is a great example of a bad idea when it comes to complaining to God about food, especially food that He has lovingly provided to us….are you following me here?

The complaints concerning food, along with the many other complaints about their traveling conditions, enabled them to doubt the path that God had planned for them.  They forgot that their complaining had set them loose in a desert for an extended amount of time and that the more they complained the longer that they were going to be out in those conditions.  They failed to see that God had a plan for their lives and that by complaining they ignored His call on their lives; so another lap around Mt Sinai they took. 

How many of us have been on diets?  How many of us while on that diet would have “killed” for a pizza or some other fattening food?  We reach a point in our diet where we feel secure about not wanting any of these diet killer foods and then all of a sudden an urge or craving hits us and we find ourselves staring at an open refrigerator before we even realize what had come over us.  Our bodies remember what we have ingested over time and it is a continual process to rid ourselves of the junk that we allowed into our lives at one point in time.  We realize that we need to eat but crave something that will not be good for our bodies.  This is when we begin to override the better conditions within our body to satisfy our favorable tastes for food.

Try this out for a little gray cell matter sensation; the result of complaints inhibits the reality of your existence.  When we complain about anything, in this case food we are ignoring the reality of what God has provided for us to re-supply our source of energy.  It says to God that we do not want what you have provided for us and that we can find something on our own, in other words I do not need you God I can do this my own way.  How do I know this is true?  Well, I did it myself in times when I told my mother that I did not want to eat something that she placed in front of me, or when I had to eat something that someone else fixed for me that I did not like.  These types of instances serve the same meaning to our parents who have provided food for our re-supply of energy.

Now when I acted up at the dinner table my parents said goodbye to me until my attitude changed and you know what when my stomach began to rumble due to the lack of food I quickly realized that my attitude could take a hike and I once again found myself at the dinner table, after an apology of course.  And you know something, mom never once denied me any food when I returned to the table nor did she condemn me for my actions in the first place, but she always asked me “did you learn something?”  And you know the more I came to enjoy the food that was set before me, the less I had to wait on supper J

Let us look at the spiritual side of this subject for a bit.  Not only does God provide us with a physical form of food but He also supplies us with spiritual food as well.  We humans tend to forget that our spirits need food just as much as our physical bodies do.  Our spirits need this food in order to stay fit when times of attacks occur.  God provides us with spiritual food through His Word.  His Word provides us with a daily supply of spiritual food that is specific for our needs at that very time.  He guarantees that this food will be the best for your spiritual life.  It may not seem like the most tasteful portions served it will be the best substance for your spiritual needs.

We need to take to heart the complaints that we give to God.  I can guarantee if a person complains about food they will eventually complain about the spiritual food that is being provided to them as well.  I will take it a step further and say that we as humans will go to a place where the spiritual food that is being served will be to their liking.  This concept works on both sides of the feeding levels. 

We have become accustomed to receiving the types of food that we want instead of the types of food that we need in our lives.  On the physical food side of things we need to restore our good eating habits in such a manner that allows our bodies to function at its best at all times; cut down on the junk food that we intake and clean out our systems with water instead of preservatives and false energy supplements.  We need to be thankful for the healthy lifestyle we are trying to live by restoring the ways that we eat and think about food.

In the same manner we need to take into consideration of the spiritual food that God is providing us.  We need to be still and listen for His voice in our life for it is His voice that will provide the necessary means that will strengthen our spirits for the upcoming battles that await us.  Listen to His words of wisdom, strength, and encouragement for it is these words that will prove to be cornerstone of spiritual nourishment.  As with physical food spiritual food may at times seem a little dull or boring but always understand that it has a purpose for your spirit that we might not immediately see, and that if we do complain about it then we will most likely not see its usefulness in our lives and it will fall to the side and wither away.

DLB