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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

1 Peter 2:2-3


"You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness."

We read this verse in the "Living By the Book" class that Rusty is teaching on Sunday nights, and it struck me anew.
I love that the Lord continually uses similies and metaphors that are meaningful to mothers! This one is incredibly meaningful.
For mothers of young children, you know EXACTLY what it's like to have a hungry, crying baby.
I'll describe it for you younger ladies.
Hungry, crying babies are single-minded. They are desperate. They cannot be distracted or moved. Nothing will make the crying stop or soothe them besides MILK! If you are nursing you better get yourself in position and get your clothes off as fast as you can, because that baby needs to EAT! (Also because your milk is dropping because you hear your baby crying, and if you were like me, you are already soaking wet, but that is so off the point.)
A really hungry baby will send you into a frenzy to get them fed and in a hurry. The sound of their cry is so urgent, and even the sweetest, most docile babies will become super demanding when they are hungry! You can try giving them something else...a pacifier, some water, turn on their mobile, walk and bounce and sing, and do tricks on your head...nothing works! You cannot satisfy that baby with anything but the real thing! And that baby is right. He needs milk. Nothing else will do.
And babies who are good feeders will grow right before your eyes! They will literally wake-up looking bigger than when you put them down the night before. Take Treston, who was 6 weeks early. Anybody who has seen him would not guess that in a million years. Why? Because the boy likes to eat! He has been nourished!
Peter is saying here that we should be exactly like that!
We should wake-up starving for His Word each day.
I should not be distracted by a load of laundry that needs to be started, something that needs to be cleaned, lesson plans that need to be looked at, and e-mails not yet returned when I wake-up in the morning.
We should be SINGLE-MINDED. We should be starving for His Word! We should be desperate to grow.
Because a baby who is not growing is a very serious and alarming problem. It should also be serious and alarming if we are not growing in the fullness of our salvation, as Peter puts it.
I wake-up every morning when it's still dark outside because I have an appointment with God. But I want to be sure that I am desperate and as focused a hungry newborn baby. Many times I am not. I want to grow as fast as Treston has! Wouldn't that be amazing? I want to devour His Word like a hungry baby devours his milk when he finally gets it.
Because I have tasted the Lord's kindness, and it is SO GOOD!

5 comments:

Kathryn, Michael and Alex said...

That is so good.

It reminds me of Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

We may get a mental picture of a cute deer next to water but in reality it is a desperate animal that is going to die of dehydration if it does not get water. Just as we will die if we do not get God's nourishment.

God wants our satisfaction to be totally in Him.

5 Chicks and a Farmer said...

Good stuff.

I've been waking up before the sun comes up too.

Not as consistently as I would like though. I really like to sleep and was allowing my children to be my alarm clock. However, I found myself in a frenzy the whole day just because I didn't have that time with the Lord, (the calm before the storm) and time to plan my day, get my head on straight, and 2 cups of coffee in my system.

brickmomma said...

amen to the coffee!

Hendrick Family said...

I remember being in scripture haven...you know, back in the day when people actually went to Christian Bookstores...I had a newborn...this verse had already spoken to me as a new mom, but then I reached over to grab Vineyard's Hungry CD...it had a picture of a newborn on the cover and the word, "hungry."

I started crying in the store.

I loved that song...that's why I was there...and to think that I was supposed to be hungry for the Lord, like that song (and verse) suggested just like I was experiencing with my newborn.

Hungry, I come to you for I know you satisfy (newborns are ravenous, nothing else will satisfy)
I am empty, but I know Your love does not run dry (immediately my mind went to my overflowing milk supply...to equate that to God's love for me...how much he has, neverending, the more I need, the more I demand, the more he supplies...wow.)
And so I wait for You so I wait for You

I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

Broken, I run to You for Your arms are open wide
I am weary, but I know Your touch restores my life (a baby is changed after they are with their mother...after they are full of food and comforted by her)
And so I wait for You so I wait for You

I was ruined. I had to go home!
I thought through all the lyrics on the way to my house...every single word that I loved before became precious to me because of what I knew as a new mother.

Heather

Kirby said...

I love this post....it may be one of my forever favorites from you, my friend!