I was thinking the other day… Normally, when I say, “I was thinking the other day” out loud, my lovely bride Gayla might be tempted to interrupt me and attempt to distract me from whatever I was thinking about. That has been known to start a temporary fuss, which causes me to profusely apologize and promise never to do whatever it was that I had done and forget what I was thinking about.
So, this time, when I was thinking the other day, I didn’t mention to her that I was thinking. She did ask me if I was feeling alright. You see, sometimes when I am thinking, it kind of twists up my face. So, I told her my stomach was not right. What I didn’t tell her was that some bacon would undoubtedly heal up what was ailing me.
So I continued to think. Eventually, I kind of drifted off into the Old Testament. And the longer I thought about that the more I was glad I wasn’t born back then. After all, those folks had some very stringent dietary rules to follow. I got to thinking that was probably why those Pharisees were so cranky all of the time.
Before you dismiss this, just think about it for a bit (but don’t let your spouse see you doing that). Imagine not having bacon, ever. Imagine not being allowed to eat fried catfish. Imagine not enjoying a plate full of fried jumbo shrimp. Imagine, for goodness’ sake, not getting hot dogs.
I’m not talking about the wimpy kind of hot dog that promises to be all beef. I’m talking about those hot dogs that are so “flavorable” because they have things like chicken lips and hog snouts and cow ears in them. Hot dog flavor is just not some sort of weird culinary coincidence. It is solely based on how many untoward animal parts are included.
So, there I was thinking about having a half of a dozen pieces of bacon or 10. Then it dawned on me that we came close, really close, scarily close, to having those Old Testament dietary rules passed right on down to us. Perhaps you remember the story.
It is in Acts 10:9-15. Peter had gone up on the roof for a little nap. I have always thought my recliner was a better place for a nap than the roof, but that’s probably another story. Some of you would want to correct me and say Peter went up on that roof to pray. I would say my recliner was a better place to pray; then if I fell asleep while I was praying (don’t act like you have never done that before) I would already be in my recliner.
Anyway, Peter was on the roof. Then the Lord, in all of His mercy and grace let down this big sheet just full of all variety of animals and birds and lizards and such. I bet there was a hog in that sheet and probably a catfish flopping around. Then the Lord said something incredibly profound, “Arise, kill, and eat.” In other words, “Here it is Peter. Get after it.”
And then Peter did a most unexpected and dumb thing. He told the Lord no. Right there, we were that close to missing out on bacon. Thankfully, the Lord is generous and gives us second chances.
The sheet came down again. Peter said no. Thankfully, the Lord is generous and gives us third chances. The sheet came down again. But, Peter said no. In what is undeniable evidence that the Lord wanted us to have the blessing of bacon, the Lord just took the sheet up, took Peter out of the equation, and just took care of the situation Himself. And lo and behold, we now have bacon.
Is God good or what?
There are a couple of things to think about. For example, all good and perfect gifts come from above. That’s just not limited to food. Food or not, we sure ought to be thankful for those gifts. Second, when the Lord offers you something, for goodness’ sake, take it. Even if you didn’t want it, someone else might. Third, God is good. Like real good. Before you doze off tonight, you might thank Him for being that way.
