Two kinds of food

Last week I was reading in Joshua and I happened across these verses:

5:11 On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched {grain.}
5:12 The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year.

Manna is a great thing. It's a beautiful example of God's provision and care for his people as well as the need to trust him for "daily bread." As such it's often applied symbolically to one's need to "spend quiet time with God" every day, using a similar metaphor to the title of this blog. But what about when the manna stops?

So as I was thinking about this, I thought of a verse in John:

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

Is there a point in the Christian life when simply spending time with the Lord is not enough to satisfy? This made me think of:

Hbr 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
Hbr 5:13 For everyone who partakes {only} of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
Hbr 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Could it be that the "solid food" the writer of Hebrews speaks of is actually not some more sophisticated teaching, but a deeper knowledge of God that is only born out of daily obedience--loving people in practical ways, obeying the little promptings of his Spirit, re-ordering our lives around God's values, and taking actual risk in doing so. The mature believer still takes some milk with his steak, but his doing of the Word allows a deeper capacity for and appreciation of his knowledge. I think that maybe this is what Jesus was speaking of when he said that his food is to do the will of his father, and that, in an imperfect metaphor, it is like eating the "fruit of the land."

So perhaps if the Scriptures are feeling dry and not as alive as they once did, I don't need to read for another hour every day, go to another conference or Bible study, or hear some fresh new teaching. Perhaps I'm just getting tired of milk. Perhaps it's time to step out and take a risk on yesterday's insight.

A challenge to my intellectual self and perhaps yours too.

Mark

NOTE: Symbolism is a touchy thing in Biblical interpretation. I believe that the Bible is both a historical text with an actual intended meaning and the living words of God. Thus we can't say that the text in Joshua is about "quiet times". It's about Israel entering the promised land. But we can say that "quiet times" are like this text. Just my hermeneutical two cents.