God has been saying something to me for a while regarding food, drink and thankfulness.
I have not studied the feasts at all, but I get the impression God ordered a lot of meals, I know there will be a wedding feast in heaven, the first sin was oriented around what we ate, Jesus’ first and last recorded miracle involve food (water you turned into wine) and the miraculous catch of fish and the master breakfast by the bay. Jesus used food (the passover meal) to have us remember him. The first and the last ultimate human betrayal oriented around a fruit tree in the garden with Adam and Eve and a morsel of bread dipped in gravy given to Judas in exchange for the permission to hand Christ over to death.
I think what God is saying is that he builds worship and love around food. Worship towards him because it births gratefulness and love because it binds us in unity.
Romans 1:21 says although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.
That whole spiritual/moral decline began as knowing God but never thanking him.
Think about it, you can use all 5 of your senses during a meal. Most likely you first smell the food. Smells are connected greatly to the way we feel. Next you might, see the food. Presentation can deter you from choosing a menu item if it looks like slop on a plate special instead of the pristine photoshopped decoration of a dessert. We like what we see. Now you begin to touch the food. While I was in Peru, a friend of mine told me, “Food tastes best with your fingers.” I wonder if part of the reason we love junk food so much is that we are using our hands to feed ourself rather than having to mediate with a metal utensil. Burgers, fries, chips, candy, pizza, they all get touched right before we chomp down on our lunch that day.
Of course, you can hear the food. Sometimes we try to be polite, but the truth is, meals are noisy things. There is smacking and slurping and cruching and cracking. Maybe you are concious enough not to let me hear you chew your food, but you can certainly enjoy the sounds you make during a meal!
Lastly, the food is tasted. Needless to say, food does not provide such a pleasure as when you are stopped up with a head cold.
Interesting note, when you snack on chips, crackers, smacking and crunching your brain deposits dopamine in your blood. This is done in tangent with your salivary glands releasing saliva. That’s why when most people are needing a hug, they will start snacking because as soon as your saliva is released, dopamine “the pleasure hormone” is released in your blood, making you happy.
Case in point: if we are going to train our bodies to be happy, do it around people, not alone. To be alone is something foreign to the holy Godhead. Only once was Jesus alone and that was on our behalf for the forgiveness of sins. Practice eating together. As humble as our meal is some nights, i.e. Chicken nuggets and cheese sticks, we do it as a family. Before diving into our meal, we practice going around the table and saying what we are thankful for. The responses range from silly to serious, laughable to warming my heart. I want my children to direct thanks to God. When god leaves, things get dark and cold in a way about we have no idea, even the most wicked of us. None of us are truly alone yet. Live in such a way that the world will miss Christs company when you are gone. I think that can only happen if we are visible to the world. Everybody eats. Do it together.
