Bread and Water

 

“Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

—Isaiah 30:20-21

A diet of bread and water conjures up images of life in prison, of poverty without funds for anything but the essential elements, and of loss and sadness. Although most of us in twenty-first century America do not directly relate to such a diet like, as the verse at the beginning of the blog post suggests, we sometimes do experience times when God may seem to place us in a spiritual or emotional confinement.

At such times, we not only pray for release from the prison of problems, but we pray for understanding and guidance. We wisely go to God for the meaning of it all because the meaning seems hidden to us. We ask Him where we should go and what we should do. We need His divine guidance.

Some verses of Scripture offer comfort. In Isaiah 30: 19, we read:

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Our God wishes to show compassion and justice to us in our adversity and affliction.

As godly Job learned, harder still than the prison of problems God allows, are the deep, nagging questions: the “whys” and “what nows” that accompany them.

As Mary, the sister of Lazarus learned, in John 11, when Jesus finally came to her in her grief and baffled thoughts and called her name, everything changed.

As Peter learned after betraying his Lord and finding himself in a “prison” of shame and fear, in John 21, we see that a few minutes with Jesus changed everything. He heard the voice of God, responded, and nothing was ever the same again.

Being able to see our Teacher, to hear the Voice clear and strong, through His Word and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, becomes our comfort in the prison of problems we face. The God who spoke to Isaiah, Job, Mary, and Peter can speak to us.

Praise Him for His gracious promise to come to us and direct our way. When we lose all else, His voice of loving guidance changes everything!