JUNE 24, Matthew 6:11

What do the people in the Biblical times eat every day? It was not rice, but a type of bread they baked themselves. They would grind the wheat and barley grains in a hand mill to turn them into flour. The flour was mixed with water to make dough. It was then baked in a homemade oven. In some towns, there were communal ovens which every family could share. The bread was put in the night before and collected in the morning. Bread was always broken by hand and never cut with a knife.

While bread was eaten daily, it was supplemented with home-grown vegetables – beans, lentils, leeks, onions, garlic, etc. Fruits and nuts were in plentiful supply too. These included olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, melons, almond and pistachio nuts. The Promised Land was called the land of milk and honey. Obviously, milk was the next most popular drink besides water or grape juice. Milk, when fermented becomes yoghurt and when churned becomes butter and cheese. The women made all these at home. Honey was used to sweeten food and gotten directly from the beehives. Aren’t the women of those days clever?

While in the Lord’s Prayer, we can ask of God to provide us with physical food daily (Matthew 6:11), it is also important for us to feed on spiritual food too. What is “spiritual food”? It is the reading of God’s Word, reading of Quiet Time material such as your Junior RPG, prayer, and meditation. Are you taking your spiritual food every day?

What are the foods that the Israelites and people of Bible times do not eat? Draw four of them here.

Thought: For spiritual growth, we need spiritual food.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us food on the table. Please help me remember that I need my spiritual food too in order to grow spiritually. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.