Thursday, November 18

If you’re like me (Ken), I bet you pray before almost every meal, maybe not the ones you eat in your car where you are wrestling with the steering wheel, a pouch of french fries, and a large Diet Coke (got to watch our figures), but I bet before most meals you pray.  And I bet most of the time when you pray, you ask GOD to bless the food you’re about to eat. 

In fact, many of our prayers before meals probably go something like this: “Father, bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies.” or “Father, bless this food and may it strengthen us to do your work, Amen.”  It’s as if GOD is going to somehow magically empower our food more than those who don’t pray before they eat.

What if I suggested that asking GOD to bless our food is backwards, but that we are already blessed?

I think it will help us to look at a little biblical and historical context about praying before meals.  On the edge of the Promised Land, Moses gave his last teaching to the people of Israel, which is recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.  In Deuteronomy 8, Moses is recorded as saying: When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. - Deuteronomy 8.10

In order to obey this teaching, the Jewish people developed a tradition of offering specific short prayers of thanksgiving to GOD throughout the day.  Each short prayer is called a berakhah, which in english means “blessing.”  Often in Scripture we see the phrase, “Bless the Lord,”  David used it in Psalm 103.1 when he said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me...  A berakhah is actually a prayer of thanksgiving meant to acknowledge GOD as the giver of all things.

In Jesus day there was a berakhah or a blessing for almost everything, they would praise GOD for roosters who knew the difference between day and night, they would praise GOD each morning for each body part that was still working, they would praise GOD even after going to the bathroom!

We see Jesus reciting berakhahs as well.  In Matthew 14, Jesus is about to feed the 5,000, and Matthew gives us this detail: And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

Some translations say “He blessed the food,” however, the idea of blessing the food is not in the Greek text, what is implied, is that by looking to heaven, he blesses his Father for his provision of the food.  What he said isn’t recorded, possibly because Matthew didn’t feel the need to record something he thought everyone would already know, the usual blessing recited before meals: “Blessed is he who brings forth bread from the earth.”  A blessing directed towards GOD.

Let’s return now to praying before meals today.  There is no need to ask GOD to bless your food, he has already blessed you.  The food you have IS the blessing from the GOD who knows how to give good gifts to his children.  So, rather than asking GOD to bless our food, let’s offer praise and thanksgiving to the GOD who created and sustains us with food on our tables and roofs over our heads.

Bless you O Lord, for eyes to see, and for the teachers and parents who taught us to read that we could, by reading your word, know you more intimately.

Ken Lippold