Give thanks
Where does your food come from? Mine comes from a grocery store or occasionally a farmers’ market. Perhaps you raise some yourself. (I have a couple of tomato plants, but that’s all.) If you’re a farmer or rancher you raise a lot of it yourself, and in fact you are where my food comes from, although it may pass through several layers of middlemen in between.
But, as I’m sure you figured out right at the start, I’m thinking further back. I get my food from a store, which gets it from a wholesaler, (there might be some processors here), which gets it from people who raise crops and feed livestock.
And where does that come from? It grows out of the ground. (Even meat—those animals eat what grows out of the ground.) You’re way ahead of me, right? The next question is once again, “And where does that come from?” The answer is right here:
And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. (Genesis 1:29)
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. (Genesis 9:3)
Our food comes from God’s creation. But we’re actually still not done. God made and gave us the plants for food, but they would not provide it unless there was sunlight, the power source behind it all. And unless there was rain. And the elements and compounds in the earth and the air, which are the essential building blocks plants have to have. All of this, the whole web of life, provided in the creation of God.
It would just be polite to say, “Thank you!” for all of this. Indeed we’re encouraged to say it, including by the example of Jesus himself. (Matthew 15:36, Acts 27:35, Romans 14:6, 1 Timothy 4:3-4) There’s a ton of passages in the Old Testament where people give thanks or call for thanks to be given to God—not necessarily just for food, but often mentioning Him as the God of the creation.
God feeds us from His creation. But there’s something else that’s needed for me to eat. I’m supposed to work for it. Does this sound like a contradiction? Once again scripture is clear. When God made Adam, He put him in a garden: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) The garden was the man’s food supply (except for one tree), but the man had to work it.
This was before the man and the woman sinned. Work was not a punishment, it was part of what God declared to be “very good”. Fruitful work was part of the gift of the garden. But things changed when Adam and Eve sinned. They still had to work to eat, but now their work would be difficult, frustrating, painful. (Genesis 3:17-19)
Those of us who are several steps away from growing the crops, thank God for his creation, and we have some additional things to give thanks for. A job that enables us to go to that grocery store and come home with food. The health and strength to be able to do the job. These aren’t things to take for granted! Anyone who cannot find work, or who is not physically able to work, can testify that having work is a blessing. Even if it’s difficult, frustrating and painful.
When we sit down to a meal, it’s very appropriate to pause for a moment to give thanks to the One who has provided all of this: the sunlight, the rain, the elements in air and soil, the plants and animals, the ability to work. For all this, our hearts should be bursting with gratitude. We should open our mouths in thanksgiving, praising Him and telling everyone about him. This is a theme repeated over and over, especially in the Psalms and Prophets. “Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (Psalm 105:1-2) Amen! Thank you Almighty God of creation, the source and the sustainer of all life.
Love, Paul