Feast For The Famished

Back in college, everyone dreaded the famous oral presentation.
It didn’t matter the subject, the professor, the class, it was cause for much anxiety.
You hoped for a good friend that you could glance at; the smile you could count on.
You mustered up a support team and you were there for each other.

One girl was confident about her presentation; if she was nervous it didn’t show.
She got up to the podium and began.
Her presentation was wonderful; she had put a lot of work into this.
It was the days before power point and smart boards; you made your own visuals.

She cited her references and mentioned the definition of a word.
It was either nerves or those times when your mouth goes faster than your brain.
She began, As Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines…
She mispronounced the word and said, “College-gate”.

There were stifled giggles since she said it more than once.
A stern look from the professor brought things under control quickly.
We, her support group, continued to smile since she had no clue what she said.
It was one of those, I wish I could do it over moments; that we replay in our minds.
The fascination with her mispronunciation eventually died down.

That could have been any one of us; no one is immune.
The content of what she said was far more important that the mispronunciation.
Unfortunately, the content is not always the most important thing.

The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’re going to burn down your house over your head.” Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?” Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh. The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said “All right, say ‘Shibboleth’.” If he said, “Sibboleth”, because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time. (Judges 12:1-6)

This was the method the men of Gilead used to determine if someone was an Ephraimite.
Apparently, because of their dialect, an Ephraimite could not say the “h” sound.
Shibboleth was pronounced Sibboleth which was a dead give-away.

Imagine if our friend was killed for saying College-gate instead of Collegiate!

We get so wrapped up in HOW something is said that we forget WHAT is being said.
We worry about how a preacher preaches, whether he was eloquent or not, instead of feasting on the Word of God that is being proclaimed.

The presentation is put above the substance.
This should not be.

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land; not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11,12)

A famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

People are so hungry.
When you are starving, you don’t care if the food is on exquisite china or in your hands.
You want to eat; you need nourishment.

We, the Church, should be feeding the hungry.
We are more worried about the plate we serve it on rather than the food itself.
We are more concerned about presentation and delivery than the “meat” that is being served.

We need to feed the hungry soul.
We have the Bread of Life.
We have Living Water.

Let’s stop worrying about the way we set our table.
Let’s get out our spoon and our pitchers and start serving and pouring.

Let it never be said, on our watch, that Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

Soup kitchen or five star restaurant, we have a Meal to serve.
Feed the hungry has just taken on new meaning.

Got your spoon?
Got your pitcher?
Put on your apron and start feeding the famished.

 

 

2 responses to “Feast For The Famished”

1. These are wonderful devotions! Thank you so much for sharing. The work you put in these must be huge! Thank you for giving of your time!

   Reply

   • Thank you, Laura…but the praise goes to HIM.
     As long as He gives me the words, I will keep writing.
     So wonderful to see you at Bible study today.
     Gina

     Reply