Birthday Psalm

Psalm 19
New International Version (NIV)

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Crux of the Matter

~Luke 12.22-26 Jesus said . . . “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food . . . . Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

~Luke 12.29-31 New International Version
And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

~Luke 12.29 Amplified Bible
And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind [unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense]

~Luke 12.29 Common English Bible
Don’t chase after what you will eat and what you will drink. Stop worrying.

~Luke 12.29 Good News Translation
So don't be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink.

~Luke 12.29 New Living Translation
So don't be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink.

~Luke 12.29-31 Young's Literal Translation
`And ye -- seek not what ye may eat, or what ye may drink, and be not in suspense, for all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father hath known that ye have need of these things; but, seek ye the reign of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

For my reasoning on why I keep this what-the-Bible-recommends-to-eat blog when the Bible itself says not to worry about what to eat (ahem!), please see the About Me section and my Most Important Entry posted on March 24 when I consider Matthew's account of this same message. (I'm not sure why the the two messages are separated in chronological Bibles.)

Today I want to focus on verse 29 and the fact that I disobey this admonition. Sometimes sitting in church I happily anticipate what I'm going to have afterwards. Or maybe at lunch I have "set my heart" on that dark chocolate I'm going to indulge in after eating all my lovely veggies. It does take away from the pleasure of the moment.

But how does one not do this? Anticipating a pleasure to come is the way we are made; it's natural. But if my ongoing food thoughts begin to crowd out better thoughts, they can become an idol, right? I need to be alert for that. God, help me.

Eat, drink, and be merry, but not at the cost of your soul.

~Luke 12.15-21 Then Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ [Ah!] I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones . . . . And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

So eating and drinking, both of which can come from abundant grain, are associated with being merry. Being merry is not a bad thing in its own place, but in God's place it is dangerous.

Yeast

~Luke 12.1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Yeast and its relationship to health is a complex topic I don't know much about. It can be harmful to the body when present in abnormally high quantities. Jesus uses it as a metaphor for hypocrisy. I always thought that was just because yeast can grow and spread, but there could be more to it. I think we will see yeast again.

We have joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year with the purchase of a share of a farmer's harvest for this season. That means every week I pick up a bunch of local, fresh vegetables. Here's this week's haul: Italian parsley, zucchini and summer squash, Tuscan kale, radicchio, green onions, broccoli, kohlrabi with tops and a cute little cabbage. Love it!

I don't know yet if any of this is specifically mentioned in the Bible, but I do know that God made it, not a food processing plant. :-]

Herb Garden

~Luke 11.42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

Herbs add so much flavor and variety to food. Mint is delightfully light and refreshing. Rue I know little of, but read that it has a "pleasant musky flavor" and can also serve as a bitter medicinal herb, "excellent protection against plagues and pestilence, and used . . . to ward off poisons and fleas" http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/rue.php. So apparently the choice of these two would cover a range of culinary and medicinal plants. Jesus here gives no evaluation of herbs, but just a glimpse of the fact that they were commonly grown and used.

~Luke 11.37-41 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

Another shared meal, but, alas, not a word about the food.

Mother's Milk and Calcium

~Luke 11.27-28

As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—-the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”
Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

” Drinking cows' milk may be controversial, but mother's milk is clearly a good start for babies. Since adults don't have this option, we have been led to embrace cows' milk as a suitable substitute, something questioned by many nutritionists.

I used to drink a lot of milk in the belief that the calcium was good for my bones. I also took multiple calcium pills every day. The result? Bone density continued to drop. Obviously, my body wasn't absorbing that mineral from those sources. Now I'm trying to eat more non-dairy calcium sources, but I wonder if I'm getting enough. One can only put so many leafy greens and sesame seeds into a day.