WHAT WE FEED ON
AM It will be apparent that these scriptures relate to what we feed upon, a most important matter for the preservation of life. The food that the believer takes forms him. We are formed according to what we feed our minds upon. It says of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she “kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart”, Luke 2: 19. Pondering in your heart is similar to what we refer to as feeding, what we give our minds to.
In the first two passages the food was meal. In the first one there was just a widow, her son and the prophet. Meal is a basic food; there is nothing elaborate about meal. The woman had a handful of it; that was her measure; that was all she had. Although she had the handful of meal in a barrel, there was room in the barrel for much more, but she had her measure of meal, she was obedient to the prophet, and she found that there was sufficient to last for the whole time of need. She also had the oil in the cruse: these are very suggestive things. I suppose the meal speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus. We see the meal in Luke’s gospel; we also see it in Philippians 2; the meal is there. There is the oil too; in Philippians it speaks about “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, chap 1: 19. There is enough in the Lord Jesus and in the Holy Spirit to meet every individual need: there is enough! I desire that we all lay hold of that. We do not need anything else individually. To enjoy life together we need one another, we have been put together, and we enjoy things together, and the second passage relates to that because they were all sitting together.
In 2 Kings they were sitting before Elisha and he said, ‘Now let us feed together’. The great pot was set on, although this was a time of famine. But the great pot was set on and the pottage was there, but the meal was needed to counteract any adverse influence that might have come in. It was met by introducing what speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus; the poison was nullified. It is in Himself! They could continue with the meal; they did not have to pour it all out and start again. What had been introduced, something introduced innocently, was actually met by bringing in what suggests the humanity of our blessed Lord Jesus; how precious that is. As we feed together on that, we find there is something else; there is a supply from heaven. His was not an earthly humanity; His was a humanity of its own: He was a heavenly Man. The heavenly Man has been seen on this earth, One intrinsically heavenly. He came out of heaven; John 6 tells us that; He was the One who came out of heaven to give life to the world, v 33. How precious to think of all that was found in our Lord Jesus. The man from Baal-shalishah comes and he has this food from another realm. Blessed thing to get food from another realm! Solomon says, “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country”, Prov 25: 25. There is a far country, far from this world, where there is a supply of heavenly food.
You might think that we should have started with the Egyptian in Samuel, but he just came to mind as I was thinking; we have had the household, and we have had the company together, and in Samuel there is a young man that comes to light. He does not have to be a young man; he could be anyone. He comes to light and he is given food, and the result of that is that he is serviceable. He is serviceable to the Master; David can use him. He takes him up and uses him as the means of a great victory. The Lord will take us up as we are feeding upon what speaks of Himself and what He has secured and what He has among the saints, and He will use us to His own ends. These are just simple thoughts in my mind, but I trust the brethren can make something of them.
WMP I find your outline very encouraging. When a miller is grinding grain the first product is something that cattle can eat, there is a quality that can be used in cooking, but then the finest is what is brought in for human consumption; and I was thinking of what you said about the meal and the absolute perfection we find in the Lord Jesus. No doubt we might also bring the manna into our conversation, and that should occupy us, all the precious graces that are found in the Lord Jesus that we have come to appreciate with the help of the Holy Spirit.
AM Hymn 293 which we started with is marvellous, is it not? There are seven graces of the Lord that the writer could draw attention to, and each one causes a response in the heart. How superior that food is! You have referred to the food that cattle eat; well, the younger son found that that was not enough; “he longed to fill his belly with the husks”, Luke 15: 16. They are the bits that we are not occupied with! He knew there was a supply, he knew that there was what spoke of Christ. Then the fatted calf was slain (v 23); the Lord Jesus has actually gone that way in order that we should know what it is to fill and satisfy our hearts with Him.
TRC In the first scripture there is a drought, in the second there is a famine. I wondered if we needed to have a judgment of the world and the fact that it has nothing for us: there is a dearth there.
AM Elijah had been living on what was providential, had he not? And rightly so! God told him to do this; he went to the torrent and the ravens fed him, chap 17: 1-6. They brought meat for him; it must have been quite a test for Elijah to have meat brought by ravens and to eat it. But he was there by the torrent; there was something that was flowing, but it did not flow for ever. It says, “And it came to pass after a while that the torrent dried up”, v 7. God provides what is providential, and we have that in natural relations and things like that, but for what is eternal and what is lasting there has to be more than that. Even as to our relationships in life, we must enjoy things beyond what is natural otherwise the torrent will dry up and there will be a dearth of spiritual life.
TRC Did the woman in John 4 find that?
AM Yes, that poor woman! We do not know the details of what went on before, but we do know that five times in her life she thought she was going to find satisfaction and five times in her life her hopes were dashed, poor woman! And then she comes to the Man, “Come, see a man”, v 29. There is One who will never let us down, One who will always bring in satisfaction.
NJH God is jealous as to what He gives the creature in the way of life and that is so disregarded by the world around us, but here is something greater; it is a new order of life, and He is infinitely more jealous of that.
AM Reference was made to the manna, and you can see how God felt about the way the children of Israel spoke about the manna and indeed the way they processed it, Num 11: 8. The manna was to be eaten as it was, it was not to be subjected to all sorts of treatment to make it more palatable. The manna was heavenly food, food of God’s providing, and God was jealous as to that. He was looking for the children of Israel to appreciate it as He does. So, in Revelation, Pergamos speaks of the time when the church allied itself with the world, the overcomer is to have “the hidden manna”, nothing polluted by the world, Rev 2: 17.
NJH And in the company of the saints we can speak of what is granted, and jealous of the life that is granted spiritually, and that has got to be fed.
AM We look around and we would not even know each other if it was not for the work of God and some appreciation of Christ; our paths would not cross. But we have a life, which is not just a social life; it is more than that. We have a life because it is centred, to whatever degree we allow it, in a blessed Man.
NJH The life that is in Christ Jesus.
AM Exactly!
PAG Why is it particularly a cake that is to be asked for?
AM “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. And she said, As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel”. A handful of meal, although it is her measure, does not have any form, it is not an object, you could take a part or bit of it, but a cake is a complete thing. However limited our measure is, however weak we may feel, we must hold complete thoughts in our minds; thoughts as to the assembly: we must hold whole thoughts.
PAG I think that is right as to whole thoughts. In Leviticus 2 you have the oblation and a cake would be made in the oven; there is what is made in the pan (v 4), and what is made in the cauldron (v 6), but do you think that these would be aspects of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus? Do you think that contemplating the sufferings of the Lord Jesus results in what is formed. It brings about what is whole.
AM Yes, it does. You used the word contemplation; it is more than speaking about them. To contemplate the sufferings of the Lord Jesus affects the heart. Really all growth, everything in Christianity, is based on the heart. We grow in our affections. Go over the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, and, I would say, learn scriptures that speak of them. I remember being encouraged to learn Isaiah 53 by heart. If you wake up in the middle of the night, can you go over Isaiah 53? Can you go over Psalm 22? It is formative to do it and it is a most blessed thing to do.
WMP “Make me … first”; what does that suggest to you?
AM This was the word from the prophet; it is like the word of God. Who comes first in my life? Well, that is quite a major test to me, who comes first. Does the Lord come first; do I put His things first? What do you say?
WMP Well, we know our own proclivity is to put ourselves first, but that would completely ignore the fact that all that we are after the flesh, has been set aside by the death of Christ, has it not? Paul could say, “no longer live, I”, Gal 2: 20. He was no longer first in his own estimation; there was another Man that had captivated his affections and thoughts.
AM Somebody might have said this was an unreasonable request, and it was a cruel thing to do. There was a poor soul who had so little and you are saying give me something first; it seems like cruelty. But it was not! God put this into the prophet’s mouth. He had already spoken to the widow woman; He says, “I have commanded a widow woman there to maintain thee”. He had already spoken to her; He guided the prophet in what He should say; so the prophet says to make him first something: let this work of God come to light. And she says, ‘I have only got this but I will do it’. She is not claiming to have a lot, and blessing comes her way, and “The meal in the barrel did not waste, neither did the oil in the cruse fail”.
AMB The widow got that word from the prophet right away. It would appear that she had not actually made the cake, but she showed a willingness and the prophet brings in this immense reassurance for her.
AM So the word came to her and what followed on her part was exercise. Now many times we may have heard something, and we have thought that that is for me. But then, do we follow it up with exercise? If we follow it up with exercise we find it will not waste. There is what sustains life.
AMB And that has to be a daily matter.
AM Yes, it does, and this is just in her own circumstances. She was not asked to do anything great, to call attention to herself; this is just the sort of thing she would do anyway, but she worked it out in exercise and in obedience to the prophet and there was sufficient.
DS Is it good to bring out the substance that is in one another? She did not realise what she had. Elijah brings out the substance that she has to make the cake and to bring it to light in order that life may be sustained. Is that a good matter to see in one another, that there is that in one another to bring out for the sustenance of life?
AM Yes, it is, and that is an exercise. How do we bring out the substance in one another? You can see that persons have something by what they say, but how do you bring that out? How do you develop that? Can you help us?
DS I do not know if I can, but it is very attractive. She was gathering sticks; so she was exercised in order that the thing should be brought to life. I think we see it in our young, and it is good if we see a young one gathering sticks; there is an exercise in order that there is to be a fire, in order that there should be life, in order that there should be a food supply. I think it is good to try and bring out the work of God in one another. Elijah saw that here. I think he saw there was life here and that there was something that she could bring out for her sustenance and for himself likewise.
AM We can see the work of God in one another, and we rejoice in it, the way the work of God develops. But maybe some of us need a little encouragement to draw it out, and you really have to get to one another’s level and that is not always easy. I suppose as we are exercised about it, we pray about it, ask the Lord for guidance and help, then we will get it.
NJH You start with the meal; that is the starting point.
AM Yes, and when you speak about the Lord Jesus, the humanity that was seen in that blessed One, there is an answer in every true heart.
DCB Would you say more about the fact that she is a widow? It is an important matter that God had “commanded a widow woman”.
AM She had no other means of support; she was bereft. I take it from what we read later on that the son would have been quite a small boy. She had no one to rely upon, but the word of God came and she answered to that and she found that there was blessing.
DCB The Lord Himself draws attention to this woman and to divine sovereignty since she was not of Israel, Luke 4: 26. We would see it through grace as being our own position, in a certain sense publicly widowed; there is nothing publicly to depend on, and that therefore gives the ground to hear the word of the prophet.
AM Yes, indeed, and accepting the state of widowhood is one of the ways by which we find that there is sufficient in Christ. A widow cannot depend on anyone else; there is no one else to depend on but there is sufficient in Christ, and He will see us through. All the days, she and her house ate for a whole year.
NJH A handful of meal might be like the household reading in the morning. I was thinking of the young getting something there to build on because the world round about is going to try and rob us all of the value of the meal.
AM It is quite apparent that they lived on this for the whole year “until the day that Jehovah sendeth rain upon the face of the earth”. They would have eaten every day. They would have been foolish not to! It is foolish to start the day without reading, getting some touch from the Lord. You look back to younger days, and you wonder, ‘Did I really go out without getting a touch from the Lord from the scriptures?’.
NCMcK You get the word of Jehovah and the word of Elijah. It is helpful to recognise the scriptures and the food that we get is from God, and to let them have their right authority with us. It is not like what people in the world feed on that is always questioned and changing, and questioning the word of God. There is immense substance in them to search out.
AM We were reading John 6 locally a few weeks ago and I was impressed where the Lord speaks of Himself, first as “the bread of God” (v 33), then as “the bread of life” (v 35), and then as “the living bread”, v 51. Each have their own significance, but it begins with the bread of God: it is the bread of God’s providing. He has provided! Now if God has provided for my spiritual life where can I find anything better? It comes from God Himself. In an occasion like this we should be looking for something, and we trace it back to God Himself.
JSS What would you say about the vessels, the barrel and the cruse? Each time the meal is mentioned it is the barrel, and each time the oil is the cruse mentioned.
AM Well, we have often remarked that it is important that these resources are contained in vessels, and in a sense we are the vessels; these are vessels that are suitable for what they are containing.
JSS I wondered if they would be protective. Care was taken to protect these things. I was thinking about the matter of prayer and deliberateness in taking time to be occupied with Jesus and relying on the Spirit; there would be a protectiveness about that.
AM Yes, there is protection in that. It is both the meal and the oil. We have not spoken about the oil, but the Holy Spirit is available for us to draw upon Him. He would be engaged in the formation of the vessel, ourselves, but a little oil in a cruse, and a handful of meal in a barrel, it was all contained, recognising the value of it. Do we recognise the value of what we do have in Christ?
PAG It was the same food for the mother and the son. The son was not to get a different cake. Do you think it is important that we take account of our young people? They may not understand everything that is said, but we do need to make sure that what we say can be understood. It is not all in a code or a theory. We need to set it out in a way that can be understood and taken on.
AM I think that is important. Divine thoughts are very precious, but we can refer to things rather obliquely. We sometimes just use figures. I think it is necessary that what we say is understandable. We may not understand everything, but we will understand the bit that is for us. Young people may also pick up an atmosphere, and see that the brethren are enjoying something. It may be that I find brethren are enjoying something that I might not yet be in the good of.
JTB A handful in a barrel might not seem very much but does it bring out the thought of the capacity to expand that, “by it ye may grow up to salvation, if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”, 1 Pet 2: 2-3.
AM Yes good! You might ask why Elijah did not just cause the barrel to be filled but that is not the point. The capacity was there, and how do you improve it? Well, you live on a handful for a year; that is proving that the capacity is there.
JTB Newborn babes suggest a different kind of life. So we taste that the Lord is good and that enhances and deepens our desire for more: is that how it works out?
AM So we need to develop an appetite. You start feeding upon the Lord, upon that blessed pathway of His down here, start feeding upon Him as He is, start feeding on His sufferings, and your appetite begins to grow.
In chapter 4 we have the company, they all gathered together. It is a good thing to be gathered together.
NJH It says, “has made us sit down together”, Eph 2: 6.
AM We had a touch of that in our morning reading today, sitting down together in the heavenlies. This company were sitting together; they were sitting before the prophet. That is commendable. Sons of the prophets do not always shine, but here they are sitting before the prophet and he says, “Set on the great pot, and boil pottage”. There was that which was being set on and something else was introduced. I am sure the person who did this thought that they were being helpful. Be careful where you get your impressions from. I say this from experience: there are many books that look good, but Satan can work insidiously in what appears to be good. Just be careful where you get your impressions from; they must come from God, but be careful that the mind of man has not introduced anything into it.
AMB It was a wild vine. God speaks about that in relation to Israel, planted “wholly a right seed” and what was wild had come out of it, Jer 2: 21. I wondered if you would say something about them being in Gilgal. Is that an antidote to the kind of thing that you are referring to?
AM Yes that is right. Gilgal refers to the judgment of the flesh; it is the place of circumcision where the flesh was cut off. The children of Israel were to constantly refer to Gilgal, whatever happened get back to Gilgal; it guards against inflation. What I am as a man in the flesh is gone in the death of Christ; it has been removed. But then we can be positionally there and not in the good of it. I suppose in a sense that might be like this man who went out and got the wild colocynths, he went out into the field, he was actually staying in Gilgal and he went out into the field and he gathered “his lap full of wild colocynths, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage”. They would not have been identifiable in the pot; they were shredded. No-one could have looked in and said it was not right: it was something shredded in; that is the way Satan works but the answer to that is the humanity of Jesus; “Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot”. The prophet cast it in.
WMP I wondered if that was the litmus test for what we might read. You have spoken about Gilgal: what man is being promoted in it? Is that always a good test: is it Christ that is being promoted or is it something that attaches to what we are?
AM So many books, including Christian literature, draw attention to the author. That is what we find: what about how Christ is being promoted!
TRC The Lord’s word to Laodicea is, “I counsel thee to buy of me” (Rev 3: 18); that is where the source is, in Christ Himself. Is that what you are bringing before us?
AM He is the One who will supply everything. In Laodicea it is gold purified by fire, and eye salve, and white garments; that was all available from Him: He says, “buy of me” Where was He? In Laodicea He was outside the door, v 20. He was saying, ‘I am knocking, and you can have all these resources available to you’, and He says, ‘More than that, if you open the door I will come in and we will feed together’.
NJH The Lord knew that what came into Laodicea was not from Himself.
AM It could not have been. Let us face it: Laodicea is not far from anyone of us. When we speak about these assemblies in Revelation, especially I would say Philadelphia and Laodicea, I would not relate them to any company of Christians. What I relate them to is a state of soul and in Laodicea there is a state of soul which is self-satisfied, considers it has all the ministry and it has everything it needs but it has not got Christ. It has everything apart from Him! And He says, ‘I am outside’. I find that can be in my heart. We can read, we can speak about the truth, but have we got the One of whom the truth speaks?
PAG Does that maybe help us as to the ministry that we do have? Some of it is not very easy to understand, but what there is in it is a brother’s impressions of Christ and maybe rather than reading it with a view to trying to understand it all, although it would be good if I could, reading it with a view to seeing how that brother had gathered up impressions of Christ and was able to express them, gives me a different view of it. The one thing I would say about other sources; if I felt that I had thoroughly exhausted the three or four hundred books that I have, I might have to think about it, but I do not think I ever will, and I certainly will never exhaust the Scriptures. I just say this as a practical thing, for me reading things that I know where they came from, and I know I can depend on, and that speak directly of Christ and come from Him, is a better use of my time than reading things that I am not sure where they came from. I might be able to reach a sober judgment about them, but why bother even starting!
AM You have actually touched on an important matter! Dear brethren, why are we here? If you were asked, ‘Why are you here?’, what would you say? Has the Lord placed you here? I can say quite definitely that it is the Lord who has placed me where I am. If the Lord has placed me where I am, would He have done so without providing in those circumstances everything I need for my soul satisfaction and for my growth? The Lord Jesus would not do that, would He? He would not place you somewhere and leave you in need. He places you where there is everything you need to live.
AMB One feature of true ministry, first of all, is that it brings Christ before us; secondly, it challenges me morally. It does not leave me feeling self-satisfied; I am satisfied in Christ but not with myself.
AM Exactly! We can be satisfied in Christ, although we may be conscious of how far short we may fall. True ministry affects the heart and the conscience.
AMB What you have said in warning as to the Laodicea condition, “I … am grown rich, and have need of nothing”; we need to be very careful that we do not feel like that, but allowing ministry of Christ to enter into us avoids that; it does not feed the flesh.
AM Then as we allow it to have its way with us, and speak to the Holy Spirit about it too, what develops are features of the blessed Man of whom we have been speaking.
AMB What you have been describing, the way in which we should think about the Lord Jesus having asked the Holy Spirit for help, works.
AM It does, say some more.
AMB So if I feel a bit harassed and busy, and perhaps troubled about things, if I ask the Spirit for help to dwell on the Lord Jesus, to feed on Him, He brings about a condition in my spirit and my soul where I am able to do that.
AM Yes, and He would help us to focus our minds. One may have a wandering mind, but if you appeal to the Holy Spirit to help you to focus on the Lord Jesus He will do that; that is His mission: “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you” (John 16: 14); that is one reason for His being here.
TRC Is it suggestive that in John 14, when the Lord begins to speak of the Holy Spirit, He refers firstly to the Father, “he will give you another Comforter” (v 16), but then He says, “the Spirit of truth”, v 17. I wondered if the previous scripture as to the cruse of oil, the meal and the oil, need to be put together and that is what brings about formation. I feel the test of that. I think for myself I need to relate myself to the Spirit more and He is “the Spirit of truth”.
AM What a title that is! It comes in several times in that section of John, chapters 15 and 16; “the Spirit of truth who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me”, chap 15: 26. Then later He speaks of the Holy Spirit as bringing “demonstration to the world”, chap 16: 8. The world is not a sphere where there is truth, He brings demonstration by the contrast, but then he goes on “But when he is come, the Spirit of truth, he shall guide you into all the truth”, v 13.
DS The Holy Spirit will help us to recognise what is in the pot; so He guides us into all the truth in that context, so that we see where the life is and recognise what is false.
AM Yes, that is right, and to see that there is meal in the pot; that is what we need, the meal. How unique was the manhood of our Lord Jesus; how unique it is. There was never a Man like Him, and how blessed to feast our souls upon Him. And this man comes from Baal-shalishah, he is coming from another sphere, and he brings a provision from heaven, heavenly food. It speaks about the Lord Jesus, the work completed, the barley loaves, the fresh ears of corn, we are on resurrection ground now! That is an exercise: can we bring something in, not only to counteract anything that the enemy may bring in but something connected with the Man in the glory?
NCMcK That is another service of the Spirit, that connection with the Man in the glory. We often say “the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5: 6) subjectively; help us with that.
AM Yes, so that the truth may be formed in us. The truth is “in Jesus” (Eph 4: 21); that is an absolute statement. But then the truth is in us as we are formed by the Holy Spirit; so a believer having the Holy Spirit has the means of coming out like Christ. What do you think?
NCMcK If this food is spiritual, which it is, if it is from God, which it is, then there is no other means of appropriating it than by the Holy Spirit.
AM “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2: 14); “spiritually discerned” involves that they are discerned by the Holy Spirit in the believer: “but the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one”, v 15. Who in the world understands the believer? He is a mystery.
PAG Help us about the pot and the colocynths and the meal. Normally speaking, as we have been taught and we would accept, if evil is apparent, evil is to be judged, and if it remains unjudged it is to be separated from; help us then as to how this applies: the meal is put into the pot, with the foreign substance.
AM I do not think the setting of this would in any way dilute what we have been taught as to assembly truth and our pathway here in separation; we have to separate from evil. But, for example, if something is brought in innocently, a brother might say something that is just not right; you do not have to jump on the brother but just bring in the truth.
PAG I just wanted to bring that out. I think what you have said is the crucial point: if it is done innocently. It might be a big mistake, it might be a small mistake, but wisdom and grace would have the resource to deal with it and not have to create a further difficulty.
AM Yes, and it is testing sometimes. A brother may say something not quite right: bring in the truth, and if it is done in grace the brother will appreciate it.
JSS Is there an example with Apollos, and how Priscilla and Aquila helped him? He was teaching only the baptism of John; it was not quite right, it was not the full thought, but they helped him.
AM Yes, they helped him; they did that graciously. But on the other hand, where there were those who opposed, Paul separated them. That was outright and public opposition; so he separated the brethren and taught them in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19: 9); that was different.
CAS The man from Baal-shalishah has things in his sack, whereas the man who had come from the field just had things in his lap. I just wonder if that helps us in relation to the preserving and containing of things that are precious.
AM I think so. The man who had the wild colocynths in his lap had not got the gain of what the widow had in the meal in a barrel and the oil in a cruse; she cared for what she had. We have the truth, we have the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit; we should appreciate the wealth that we have. We have tremendous wealth; each one has something. A brother many years ago said in a meeting, ‘Dear brethren, we are sitting on a gold mine’. There is tremendous wealth; then let us appreciate it and protect it and preserve it, but we each have to do it for ourselves. The work of God can never be destroyed but it can be covered up, it can go out of sight, or it can be held loosely. We might think that what we have is just ordinary; divine things are not ordinary; they are special.
MBG The last clause that you read in this section was, “And there was no harm in the pot”; I was wondering about that. One of the features of the Lord Jesus is that He was harmless: “holy, harmless, undefiled”, Heb 7: 26. Is that a very attractive feature to be seen in our local places, harmlessness? I was thinking too in 2 Timothy 2, we know what that chapter is dealing with, but “a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose” (v 24, 25); they would be features of harmlessness, do you think?
AM Yes, and it is interesting that you bring in that scripture because it shows that the truth is held in meekness, but it is clear. I think you will find that in Hebrews the word harmless has a footnote which says, ‘guileless’ (footnote ‘a’). There was no guile in the Lord Jesus: what He said was clear. What He said was absolutely straight and transparent and that is a great feature to mark the believer; “neither was guile found in his mouth”, 1 Pet 2: 22.
DCB The man from Baal-shalishah has loaves, and also fresh ears of corn. Is it important that there will always be something that is experienced: it was baked. But there is something fresh, and these two things we would desire to mark each of our occasions.
AM Freshness should not be a test. If I get a touch from the Lord that should be a living fresh experience, something that just comes out. It is not rehearsed; it is not what I said the previous week and the week before that; it is something fresh; I have had a fresh touch and that quickens. It quickens the affections of the brethren, stirs their hearts. There is what we produce, that has been wrought through exercise, the baking, the loaf, and again that is another complete thought, but there is what is fresh, the fresh ears of corn. Ears of corn, that refers to the Lord Jesus in resurrection. It has been cut down, the corn was cut down and there is something that has been secured, the ears of corn, Christ in resurrection.
NJH No further development there. It is fresh ears of corn, but it is cut off from the stalk. It is by itself it is contained in every way, maturity.
AM And think of the Lord Jesus as having come out of death in resurrection and is now in heaven and we can take account of Him there in absolute perfection, God’s ideal in manhood; He is there in heaven in glory.
There is a young man in our last scripture and he had come to it that the world had nothing to offer him. That is one thing; that is a great thing to come to, the world has nothing to offer you. But then David says, ‘That is not enough! I want this young man to be serviceable’. We have that expression in 2 Timothy 2: 21: “serviceable to the Master”. But before he could be of any use to David he had to be given this food; they gave him bread, they gave him water, they gave him “a piece of fig-cake and two raisin-cakes”. I am sure there are impressions among us of what these items suggest, “and his spirit came again to him”, and then he is available for whatever David would have him do.
WMP What does that suggest to you, “his spirit came again to him”? Would it be an important matter that if there is this food and water available, and it is, that it is going to affect us inwardly?
AM It is life in expression, “and his spirit came to him again”. There is life! I take it he would have been half dead; he had not eaten and drunk for three days, he would have been in a half dead state. But he is given this spiritual food and life is restored.
NJH Typically his life is renewed with God. I was thinking Paul descended upon the young man and brought him up into the assembly; he was renewed inwardly in his relations with God, Acts 20: 9-10.
AM The expression is used there as to Eutychus, “for his life is in him”. His relations with God are renewed; that is a great thing.
PAG Abigail brought fig-cakes and raisin-cakes, 1 Sam 25: 18. He gets bread and water; you might say he gets the fundamentals. Christ must be there for recovery to come in, but a recovered person is immediately entitled to everything that the assembly has. There is not a period of probation. Once a person is restored as this young man was, he has to recognise the world had nothing for him; we have all had to go through that and maybe had to be restored from it, at least I have, but once a brother or sister is restored they are restored to the full bounty of all that the assembly has under its hand.
AM And there is here what would sustain him in the light of that it says in the Song of Songs, “Sustain ye me with raisin-cakes”, chap 2: 5. His affections were sustained; and having been restored, having been recovered there is that which will sustain us in a living link with Christ. I suppose the raisin-cakes suggest what is available in the assembly.
AMB It was those that were with David who found the Egyptian, the four hundred with whom David pursued. There seems to be a working together here for the preservation of life under David’s headship.
AM At this point this company is one, four hundred men and David at the head of them. A short while before they were so embittered they were going to stone him, 1 Sam 30: 6. A short while after this we know that failure came in again, but at this point David was the head and the company was one, and what they found was that just as David’s heart went out to others to whom he could show kindness so their heart went out. They found a young man and David says, ‘Well, he is available; I can use him’.
Let us be concerned each of us, brothers, sisters, young or old that we are usable to the Lord Jesus for whatever He may have in mind. I cannot say what He has in mind for you, I would seek some sense of it for myself, but I cannot always say I have had a clear guidance as to that; but whatever He would use us for let us be available. Let us be willing and glad to serve the One who has done everything for us.
Glasgow
28th February 2026
List of initials:-
A M Brown, Linlithgow; D C Brown, Edinburgh; J T Brown, Edinburgh; T R Campbell, Glasgow; M B Grant, Grangemouth; P A Gray, Linlithgow; N J Henry, Glasgow;
N C McKay, Glasgow; A Martin, Buckhurst Hill; W M Patterson, Glasgow; C A Seeley, Glasgow; J S Speirs, Grangemouth; D Spinks, Bo’ness