- Flour thrown in the poison pot of stew (see 2 Kings 4:39f) as a picture of grace being added to my thinking to heal my mind
- Bread as a picture of grace and truth. Jesus is the true bread from Heaven (see John 6:32f)
It is amazing how helpful these kinds of pictures are. God built us and He knows we learn in different ways. Seeing, hearing and doing are three main avenues that are crucial to learning. We usually favor one of them but God often puts all three together and uses them as 'object lessons'.
Here He uses grain:
"One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, 'O man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it.
He said, 'Then bring FLOUR.' And he threw it into the pot and said, 'Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.' And there was no harm in the pot.
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God BREAD of the firstfruits, twenty LOAVES OF BARLEY and FRESH EARS OF GRAIN in his sack. And Elisha said, 'Give to the men, that they may eat.'
But his servant said, 'How can I set this before a hundred men?'
So he repeated, 'Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'
So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD." - 2 Kings 4:39-44 ESV
Here we see all three forms grain used: Ears of grain, Flour and Bread.
Notice the old testament multiplication of loaves in the last verses 43 and 44. What was done for a hundred men was done for thousands in the Gospels.
My thinking can get like that pot of stew. The wrong thing goes into it and suddenly it is poisoned. The remedy is to add Jesus but not the raw whole life of Jesus. What is added to is the crushed and evenly ground life of Jesus... His life that gave Himself over to the plan of God... His cross life. Thie flour is used for healing.
The raw life and the baked life are needed to sustain us and they are multiplied in our midst. Grace and truth are like a baked loaf. The parts have become a whole nourishing thing that feeds us. A portion prepared for us and served to us as a thought, concept or doctrine. The bread is the word (Logos) and the life experienced from the bread is the meaning it has (Rhema).
"Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the BREAD from heaven, but my Father gives you the true BREAD from heaven. For the BREAD of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
They said to him, 'Sir, give us this BREAD always.'
Jesus said to them, 'I am the BREAD of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." - John 6:32-35 ESV
Jesus is the bread of life but He is not bread prepared by human hands. Our bread is an object lesson to show us something Heavenly. He is bread that was not made or processed in any way.
Jesus is Heaven's bread. Jesus is Heaven's truth and He functions in Heaven's method. He is seamless and uncreated. He nourishes our soul and feeds our inner man. He is food and His blood is drink for us. A thought that offends the natural man and his thinking but causes the spiritual man to reverence God and partake of Him in an intimate way.
Our thinking can get weird at times can't it. Throw a little flour in the pot and take another spoonful. Grace has a way of giving our thinking perspective and removing the poison.
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