Arise and eat

If you have not experienced real hunger, you may never appreciate food. In fact the biggest global pandemic that has been with humanity longer since the history of mankind is hunger. It is the only pandemic with a cure yet it has taken the world 1000s of years to solve it. If you have not experienced extreme hunger before, you may not understand the gravity of it. Do you remember those scenes on your TV with babies with countable ribs? Have you ever seen footage of people holding empty bowls and going through a stampede just because a van carrying food arrived in their community? It is very heartbreaking to know that hunger is not a third world pandemic but a worldwide pandemic. The next time we pour leftover food in the trash can, know that someone else could have survived on that meal. 

And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” (I Kings 19:7)

There cannot be any conversation on healthy lifestyles without stressing on eating appropriately. However if you do not have access to food, a healthy lifestyle is just a delusion. A hungry man is naturally an angry man and anger causes emotional stress. The body doesn’t function well when one is hungry. The limbs become weak, the muscles lose strength and one is likely to faint. No talk on fitness should avoid the fact that we need to eat. A lack of appetite for food (anorexia) can be a medical condition or an emotional condition and needs immediate attention.The Bible presents a unique example, Elijah was afraid for his life and he ran away. He went on “a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). We would expect God to tell Elijah on the spot that “you will not die.” But, on two occasions, the angel of God gave him food. 1 Kings 19:7 (NKJV) records that “And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 

“Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8). Definitely, we see the sustenance of God in this scripture. What we need to know is that even God admonished a hungry prophet to eat. Hunger can cause one to live wayward and most childhood thefts among children of third world countries are caused by hunger. What can we do as a church to help poor members in our communities? What can we do to minimize the impacts of hunger? James asks these questions in James 2:15-15: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

Jesus has made us aware that on the day of judgement, “the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:34‭-‬35‭, ‬40)

You can make a contribution to any organization that helps in food crises, you can drop some food at the food bank and you can invite that lonely person in your church to have supper. You will save lives. God bless.