Happy day saint :)
Writing this from just outside of Perth on a gloriously sunny Scottish evening.
My wife and I are up here on holiday,
Yet today is all about a simple dish which may...
Win you promotion in your calling or career.
Lose wait (Read again; I have to spell cryptically like I've just done... or the ‘net’ gatekeepers don’t let it through).
Could land you in trouble—as it did me a couple of nights ago.
What exactly is it?
I'll tell you.
Our humble, cheap superfood is...
Daal.
Yup.
A food so plainly dull you need to pep it up to give it any sort of flavour. However, special spices hold the key to unlocking it's manifold wonders on the palate.
That said when spiced properly,
It transforms into luxurious velvety food fit for a king.
Kings like...
Nebuchadnezzar?
Er no. Perhaps too lowly for him.
His gourmet table was legendary of course.
Yet for all that...
Daniel point blank refused his exotic meat and dainties in place of...
Plain old daal.
Staple of the Middle East, India et al.
Daal Dave?
Okay I hear you...
Pulses overcomer. Pulses (AKA lentils).
Daniel asked for it...
"Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink."
Daniel 1:12 KJV
It's cheap.
An almost boring protein. Yet one which launched Daniel's ascent to greatness. And led directly to his being chosen over all others.
Next we read of his promotion (okay after a dream interpretation I'll give you that... but one can’t help wonder... did his diet help unlock the secret of the dream?)
Anyway...
Eventually he became the second in Babylon only to King Nebuchadnezzar. Wiser than all the Chaldeans and magicians under him too... which made them so jealous they later sought to kill him.
They failed of course while he gained even more promotion.
Up, up and away,
Nothing and no one could stop him.
And,
He's not the only one either.
Jacob unlocked his destiny through daal too.
For as he was cooking it...
Unwittingly he went up against one far more dashing than he.
Stronger. Mightier. A hunter no less.
Such was Esau...
His big brother and dads favourite son.
Plus remember, Esau was also a great chef. His Dad loved the way he cooked spicy meat (and who wouldn't eh?).
Yet here's the thing...
Jacob had quietly learned to cook humble daal to perfection... by which he defeated his evil brother even though he seemed superior to him in so many ways.
In fact.
The spicy daal he simmered so expertly...
Intoxicated Esau so much he willingly (though utterly foolishly)... gave up his entire kingdom. His future... to feast upon Jacobs daft 'pottage'.
Imagine.
For a dish of daal...
Esau lost ALL.
Such is the power of this humble, overlooked pulse...
It promoted Daniel. It demoted the wise men of Babylon.
It demoted Esau—While shooting Jacob up to first place.
What can it do for you I wonder?
Especially if combined with this secret of the reducing wa-is-t-line here... while supercharging your prayers at the same time too.
Anyway,
As I cooked some of the very same two nights ago, I asked the LORD to bless my daal. To help me to cook.
To make it a joy for my wife and I for our dinner.
And so the taste turned out...
Utterly sublime.
In fact it was so delicious,
These terrible words tumbled from my lips as I got up from the table...
"I just made the best daal in the whole world."
Well...
Two hours into prayer early next morning, something was off.
The LORD was there, sure.
Yet,
No comforting presence.
No communion.
No union.
Just...
Lonely silence.
Me wittering on into the air.
So,
I asked the LORD to show me what I'd done wrong.
And of course,
He replayed my words back to me from the night before.
My foolish boasting words,
About of all things... silly daal!
Okay,
Without doubt it had turned out the best daal I'd ever made, (quite something after having cooked it for over thirty years)...
Yet despite being aware of the Lord's actual help as I'd cooked it...
When my wife commended how nice it was I did not give Him thanks or praise.
Instead I boasted of 'my' culinary skill. My pride. Yet again... sigh.
And so,
My fellowship with Jesus had gone.
Thankfully as soon as I realised my blunder this Word restored me...
"Where sin increased, grace increased all the more."
Romans 5:20 NIV
Grace is so fantastic eh!
Praise GOD :)
Which all made me reflect...
How many times we grieve the Holy Spirit yet do not even notice.
We hurt Him, and so... ever so quietly... He just leaves.
I can't live like that.
Can you?
So overcomer, I'm discovering.
Even the 'small things' that fall from our lips matter...
"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."
Proverbs 18:21 NIV
Bless you.
Dave.
PS
Don't think food is important?
Okay.
Why did Jesus cook breakfast for His disciples then after His resurrection?
Dig deeper below…
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.
Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
Daniel 1:15-21 KJV
And so with Jacob…
And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:27-34 KJV