We could not look to anyone for help, we must help ourselves; we could not look to anyone for food, we must find our food and prepare it ourselves.”
–Louis L’Amour (Killoe)
“Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food… The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up”
Proverbs 23:3,8 (NKJV)
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I remember that one of the great novelties was to eat at a smorgasbord. There was one in Westminister, Colorado, and once in a while Mom would take me there. I think they now have upgraded the name to “Cafeteria” (i.e., Lubys, Picadillys), however, at a smorgasbord you choose from all the foods, not just order from a variety.
Yesterday, I wrote of a famine in the land, but today I want to draw your attention to the fact of too much food, too many different types. I’m a plain, old-fashioned type of guy. Breakfast: eggs, some meat, if possible a biscuit, and if I’m lucky hash browns, and if I’m extremely blessed–biscuits ‘n’ gravy. Lunch: nothing special. Supper: meat, potatoes, vegetable, and once in while a piece of pie. I’m not for all these fancy dishes or variations. I go to a restaurant and order what I like, while others like to take a chance on something new.
Let me tell you that not all food is good. There are some that taste good, and there are others that leave a bitterness in your mouth. There are some things that look good, and the hungrier you are the better they look. There are some things best left alone. For example, I don’t know about mushrooms . I like them in things, but you won’t find me going out to the woods to gather mushrooms. They look alike to me. Some are good, and some are deadly poisonous. That takes me to my Scriptures for the day. There was a famine in the land. Elisha was at a “convention of the prophets” (their sons–whomever they were). Now from what I know of preachers getting together there has to be food, but there was none to be found.
The old cook must have had faith for he put a pot on to boil. Maybe he thought that Elisha would perform a miracle, but the water was boiling, but there was nothing in it. I recall how mountain men in our country when they were starving would make moccasin stew”. Throw their moccasins in the pot, boil it up, then drink it. Hmmm, tasty? This cook, then sends a servant to gather whatever food he could find (the basis of gumbo, whatever the hunter brought back and whatever was around the house went into the pot). The servant was obedient and tried to be helpful, after all he was hungry too. He gathered herbs and wild gourds, slicing them, then throwing them into the pot of gumbo. After the preachers were seated and began to eat suddenly one cried out–“There is death in the pot!”–the stew was poisoned.
“So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, ‘Man of God, there is death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it.”
–2 Kings 4:39-40 (NKJV)
Listen! That is true of what is being taught in the world and in some churches, “for fatal doctrine acts upon the soul as poison does upon the body.” (Arthur Pink) Hold on to true doctrine! False doctrine can lead you astray no matter how much your ears itch. Do not feed upon it, but turn to the Word of God to find truth. Satan is an imitator, and he will have “food” that looks like the gospel, but it is poison to the soul. He makes sure that there is no shortage of the “food” that he has to offer. It is up to us to recognize truth from error. We cannot, we must not call right wrong, and wrong right no matter how good and delicious it might look for it is “death in the pot.”
There is a danger of compromise with the culture of the world. There is a danger of acceptance and toleration. However, that could mean that there is death in the pot. Yes, Elisha had a cure (2 Kings 4:41) but it is up to us not to eat of the things of the world. Take heed to what David wrote,
“Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked words with men who work iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.”
–Psalm 141:4 (NKJV)
Don’t eat what the world is offering you. It is time that we must discriminate between what is helpful to the soul and what is harmful. Don’t eat the poison of the world. Feed upon the Word of God. “Only by making the Word of God our constant guide shall we be delivered from the evils surrounding us.” (Arthur Pink)