Hidden Manna

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It was full of notes, maps, and commentary. It was a mistake to get it for me. Everything was a distraction, and worse, denominationally bent. I won't be using that one this year!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This year, I bought a giant print, column-in-the-middle, no comment Bible. That's more like it! Clean, silent, waiting…just me, and God's Word.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>At this stage in my life, I'm not much interested anymore in commentary - especially since the vast majority of it is achingly shallow. There is a depth to scriptures that most Christian writers haven't even come close to uncovering. Statistics and doctrinal things are fine and useful, but you can have all of that and never really touch the living, breathing heart of God in the Scriptures. And I want THAT above all and anything else.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat.” (Revelation 2:17)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Word of God contains the Hidden Manna. It is provision, food, sustenance and life. But the scriptures are hidden and veiled to both unbelievers and to many believers. It will not yield its secrets and depths to the casual passer-by. It will only open up to the hungry of heart.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>There were several items put within the Ark of the Covenant. The ten commandments, the rod of Aaron, and some of the manna from the wilderness. The Ark was in the Holy of Holies. In the same way, those who dwell in the outer courts or even the inner court of the house of God will not find this treasure. Only when one comes to the Holy Place and then the Holy of Holies of God's presence do they find the true bread of God.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In my earlier, desperate days as a Christian, I was so wounded and bound that I bought hundreds  of Christian books seeking answers. It was a huge waste of time and money. In fact, of those hundreds, only a handful remain: AW Tozer; Amy Carmichael; Rick Howard; Henry Drummond. Their common bond? They had discovered the Hidden Manna and shared it. Almost without exception, all the rest of what I read was just fluff.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It's not that I am a deep thinker. I am just hungry. And it is discouraging to see the vast library of Christian junk food being offered as “deeper truth.” The hottest seller right now contains information so basic that it hurts, but it is being touted as REVOLUTIONARY! Something's wrong here. I am afraid we are at a point where Paul would say, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the sayings of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age…” (Hebrews 5: 12-14a) How is it that we have believers five, ten, fifteen years old in the Lord who are just now “getting” the basic principles they should have had established in year one?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In any event, I am determined to go after that Hidden Manna. Not for “answers”. I have not found the Bible to be some formula, a spiritual 8-ball. That is not its purpose.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Again, the problem with a lot of books is that they present themselves as a guide to answers to life's problem with a scriptural attachment or framework. In short, they say, “This is how to apply verses to make your life work better.” You CAN do that; the Bible certainly has the best and only true guidance to everyday life.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But I believe we should rather be saying, “This is how to apply your LIFE to the SCRIPTURE.” The Bible is not a cure-all, Band-Aid how-to manual. It is the straight edge truth that we must line up our life to. Our life is not the center of the universe, and the scripture an all-purpose fix-it tool. The SCRIPTURE is the centerpoint, and our lives are to increasingly come nearer to the Jesus-like ideal we see there. This is how we are conformed to the image of His Son.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Attaching Jesus and the Word of God as a sidekick to our life will not get us there. Only when HE and His Word are the Main Event of all we are and do can we ever hope for more than a shallow faith and an unfruitful spiritual life.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I am convinced that God allows times of stress, pressure, pain and difficulty in order to turn our hearts toward His Word. Not so much to find answers, but to find Him.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>There has never been a crisis I have faced but that His Word has not brought comfort, strength and encouragement. But not often “answers.” Many times, I've cried out to God, searching for an answer, and He has been as likely to say, “Look at the sunset I made, child. Isn't it beautiful?” Completely circumventing my request, and instead raising my sites to His glory and love where answers no longer matter. The Word of God has become the Door to the intimate place of His Heart for me. If all we ever got were answers, would we even seek a relationship with God? No, that's Santa, not a Savior.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>God DOES answer us. And He does answer prayers. But He LONGS for us to seek Him, not for answers, but for intimate friendship. And when we do, His Word becomes a feast of joy and fulfillment.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>There are three layers to the Scriptures. One is the written word. The unbeliever reads and makes little or no sense of it. It is hidden, until a heart seeks or is born again. Nevertheless, every word is true and will remain forever. But the Word to the unbeliever is just the outer court.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The second layer opens to the believer, filling them, refreshing, strengthening them and challenging them. It becomes real, practical, absolute.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But beyond that layer is a miracle of symphony and perfection. As God's Word is nurtured in your heart and takes root, it begins to change you. And if you come to the well daily, seeking, hungry, insistent, the Scriptures become ALIVE. It will speak less to your “situations” and all to your HEART. It will expose the things of the heart, impurities, evil motives, hidden things. And then it cleanses. As it cleanses, your vision clears and your heart is elevated into higher things and higher purposes, eternal things. God is waiting for you there.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The miracle is that God could condense so much of Himself into one book. The wonder is that its depth will take you so deep into God that you are lost in Him. Every verse connects with all the others you have hidden in your heart  before. God can now intimately whisper to you the thoughts and desires of His own heart.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Those who come casually to this well for a hasty sip will never know the Hidden Manna. And it will not yield that Manna easily.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Come to His Word determined to be given this Bread. Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking! STAY until that Door is open to you where His banquet of truth and life awaits you.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Father, I am hungry. I'm tired of spiritual food that is empty and unsatisfying. I come asking to receive the Hidden Manna. I don't just want answers. I need YOU. Whatever it takes, Father, take me from the shallow waters of facts and quick fix verses and pull me relentlessly into the depths of Truth. Catch me up in the awesome magnificence of Your Word, and let it burn, and cleanse, and transform me. Make me unsatisfied with anything less. Make me an overcomer worthy of receiving Your Hidden Manna. In Jesus' Name, Amen.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Gregory Reid</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ENEMIES OF THE CROSS"><U><B>NEXT ARTICLE</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U><B>BACK TO ARTICLE PAGE</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>