Snacking on The Bread

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:2

I was reminded by Scotty Smith's prayer this morning of the necessity of breakfast feasting on the Gospel.  I spend far too little time pondering the great works of the Lord and far too much time whining and worrying about the work in front of me.  I fixate on the sorrows of people around me and miss the story God is weaving in their lives of His grace and His power.  I look intently for my prescribed solutions and forget altogether about the salvation He brings through suffering but also the delights of His presence scattered like unexpected Easter eggs throughout the course of a given day.

I need to fill up on His mercy and grace and love and care first thing, but I really need to snack on it all day.  Its not like a Gatorade commercial that I can pour in me and then use on my own.  I am tempted all day to return to my own resources, evaluate and judge based upon my own perspective, attempt to achieve and accomplish by my own power...and then wonder why I am so worn out and inevitably defeated (at the very least in one intended endeavor) by the end of the day.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.  Psalm 1:1-3

How could I possibly delight in the Law of the Lord unless I knew through the Gospel that it's extensive demands have been met in full by Jesus, who offers me His record?  How can I do anything but wither apart from my safe hiding place in Him?  How can I do anything but prosper in the care of the One who numbers my days, tells the waves where to stop, and calls me His child?  Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, to embody it as the exact representation of the Father.  I delight in His law because it is a picture of Him and of who He is making to me to be by His effort, through His designed classrooms in life with His promise to complete the good work that He has begun.  He blows away my narrowly defined American idea of "prosperity" with His better Kingdom notion of the prospering of His image and His creation.
 
And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matt. 3:17
 
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20
 
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:3
 
What if I began to really believe that I, who am hidden with Christ in God, who no longer live but have the life of Jesus being worked out in me, am the recipient of God's love and full pleasure?  What might that change in the way I love others today?  What might that change in the way I approach the tasks of the day?  What if I begin to ponder the great works of the Lord as He is bringing His Kingdom in the hearts of my family, my neighbors, my friends even as outwardly some things appear to be wasting away?  What if today I snack on the many ways these beloved of the Lord are being renewed inwardly and His image is indeed flourishing?
 
I'll close with Scotty who helped me get these thoughts flowing:
There’s no nutrient I need more than the fresh manna of your grace. Nothing tastes as sweet as the assurance of your welcome… presence… and affection. I’ve never met a carbohydrate I didn’t like, but just send me ample supplies of the Bread of Life and I’m a “happy camper”… far better than that, I’ll be a different man.