This is the time of year, food becomes a focal point. I have my coffee with a splash of eggnog and occasionally even have pie or cake for breakfast. Everywhere we look at Christmastime, there is food glorious food! I like the way Psalms puts it, “the food of our fancy”. Psalm 78:18 says, “And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy.”
This is referring to the Israelites in the wilderness when they became tired of the food of heaven so generously poured out by God’s own hand to sustain them. Instead, they wanted meat and so God gave them meat, more meat than they could consume. Soon, they became tired of that too. The Christmas season is a time of indulgence. That plate we prepare or that gift we have our heart set on is a lot like the meat the Israelites thought they had to have. Once we have it, we realize we didn’t need it after all.
What is it we are asking for this Christmas? We all have a wish list of things that we think would add to our life or be an upgrade to something we already have. We may give our family a wish list of material items, but what are we asking God for? The Bible tells us “ask and you shall receive”, right? Well, when we are asking, are we testing God in our heart for the food of our fancy?
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your own pleasures.” James 4:3. When we ask God for things that are going to benefit only ourselves, then our motives are all wrong in asking. Like the scripture says, we are testing God. When we ask with pure motives, we are not interested in benefiting ourselves, but benefiting the Kingdom of heaven.
I love December because I use it as a time of reflection. When I look back on my journal from the past year, I can see the things I have asked God for and where he has answered. The times I most often see God intervene is when I have asked God for things that have nothing to do with me and my wants. Asking for the food of my fancy is not asking according to God’s will, but rather my own.
I encourage you to reflect on these scriptures along with me. When you think of the wish list you have presented before God, is it primarily to get something you want or to make your life easier in some way? That is exactly what the Israelites did, and we see where it got them. The food of our fancy becomes lower on the list of importance the more we spend time in the presence of Jesus. This world and our connection to all its fancies begin to fade away in the light of Christ.
