Last night I dreamt that I was getting a new surname. My actual surname is Molina (after having been married to my husband 11 years ago). In the dream, I was going to be named "Mills". I thought, well I do not want to give up my present name, so I'm going to be called "Molina-Mills". When I awoke, I thought this was rather funny - the word / name "Molina" already means "mill", so why have the same name in English? Why the strong emphasis?
As I have learned to understand and interpret the metaphoric language of God over the years, I knew there was something more to this. I searched the word "mill" in the bible and felt led to a particular passage which talks about the process the Israelites applied to the heavenly manna to be able to eat it:
"Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it." Numbers 11:7-9
Even though I have read this passage before, I now became fully aware that the manna which God rained down from heaven to feed His people wasn't actually eaten in its original form - it had to be processed! The process of grinding, beating and boiling is rather brutal if you really think about it. Intense energy and pressure and heat is applied. Yet, instead of destroying the precious manna, it actually releases the nutrients and makes it digestible. Any type of grain is much easier to digest when it is processed properly.
A few years ago my dad brought the health benefits of flaxseed (also called linseed) to my attention. As I began looking into it, I soon found out that the way to get the very best out of these incredible seeds was to actually eat them crushed or ground so the body can absorb all the valuable nutrients inside instead of just sending the closed seeds through the stomach and intestines (they remain closed throughout their journey!) and out again.
As I was pondering this further, two things unfolded in my heart. First it showed me that the revelation, our spiritual food, which God gives us all the time to nourish us, strengthen us and cause us to grow in faith and love is not given just to be 'swallowed'. We gather the revelation, and we then grind it, beat it and boil it to get the essence out of it! We study, investigate, ponder, pray and ask Holy Spirit for insight, and we keep doing this with intention, investing time and energy - making real effort!
"By putting the best in, we get the best out" is a quote I found in a magazine a while ago and which I put on my notice board next to my desk. Lack of pressure, energy and heat would slow down the processing of manna in the best case, in the worst case it would be a waste altogether and leave the manna in a state unfit to be eaten and enjoyed. We need to invest our time and give it our best effort if we want the best result! The Bible uses the word "diligence" a lot in this context.
So - we need to treat the precious revelation God gives to us through His written Word and by the Holy Spirit as something we need as much as our bodies need food. Our spirit needs it and depends on it to stay alive and be richly nourished and to continuously grow.
The second insight were the words "becoming manna" which I suddenly heard in my heart. I was surprised as I have never heard that phrase before. I googled it and could not find anything on it whatsoever. As I continued to ponder this, I was reminded of these words from the Bible:
"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35
"In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:17
Jesus our Messiah is the true bread of life. He nourishes us and gives us life. Without Him our spirits are dead - without constant connection with Him we begin to starve! We are also like Him in this world if we have become His children. We have been united with Him (Philippians 2:1), we dwell in Him, have our being in Him and Jesus dwells in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He wants us to feed the lost and hungry in this world so they can get a taste of God:
"But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat.'...” Mark 6:37
My sense is that God is actually calling us to become manna! He provides the food, He gives it freely - we could not produce it ourselves! He first "gathers" us to Himself. He then begins the intense process of grinding and beating us - not because He seeks to harm or injure us, but because in His wisdom He knows that the rich treasure of nutrition can only be released this way! He turns on the heat - He "boils" us and prepares us so the lost can finally be fed!
As children of God, we are called 'the body of Christ':
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1 Corinthians 12:27
So, if Jesus is the bread of life, and we are His body, united with Him, it only makes sense that we, too, are manna to the world! I for one have decided that I want to yield much more now to this much needed process of beating, grinding and boiling - even though it can be rather intense at times, but I was not supernaturally born again and made into manna just to lie on the ground and go all mouldy! I am here to be food for a starving world! Food that others can benefit from and be nourished and strengthened by.
We have the awesome privilege of becoming edible, palatable manna to give others a true taste of heaven - a taste of the one living God!
