Most people, I guess, know the following lyrics from the famous song, “Food, glorious food”, in the play called “Oliver”.
Food, glorious food!
We’re anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day —
Our favourite diet!
Just picture a great big steak —
Fried, roasted or stewed.
Oh, food,
Wonderful food,
Marvellous food,
Glorous food.
– for full lyrics and video go to https://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/o/oliverlyrics/foodgloriousfoodlyrics.html
Very entertaining, but the reality is that for many people in our world today, having enough food to feed themselves and their families is a daily challenge. Then, tragically, on the other hand, many people actually suffer from ill health due to the consequences of eating too much!
Sadly, the history of mankind is full of such disparities!
Proverbs have a bit to say about food and related topics. Consider the following from Chapter 23:
1-3 When you go out to dinner with an influential person,
mind your manners:
Don’t gobble your food,
don’t talk with your mouth full.
And don’t stuff yourself;
bridle your appetite. (Message)
Keller, quoting Van Leeuwen in his “Book of Proverbs” writes, “Even table manners and food are a part of the overall order of things, connecting us to the physical world that sustains us, connecting various people to one another, and giving expression to their varied relationships … In the end, nothing, even table manners, is indifferent to the service of God, even though God gives us … immense freedom to shape cuisine and culture in various ways.” (# 51)
6 Do not eat the food of a begrudging host,
do not crave his delicacies;
7 for he is the kind of person
who is always thinking about the cost.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten
and will have wasted your compliments. (NIV)
Have you ever been the victim of someone who is saying all the right things and even offering you gifts (“delicacies”) which seem to suggest to you that this person has ulterior motives (i.e., his heart is not with you) for his words and actions? Best to avoid going very far with this person, because as this proverb suggests, you may end up “vomiting”, which is not a great result!
19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and set your heart on the right path:
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine
or gorge themselves on meat,
21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor,
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
To be wise is to set [our] heart on the right path, and that does not include joining in with the company of those that will only drag you down to their low level of activity which here includes drink[ing] too much wine or gorg[ing] themselves on [too much] meat. There are consequences to every activity in life (whether good or bad) and the consequences here are that for drunkards and gluttons [they] become poor, and drowsiness [due to alcoholism] clothes them in rags. (see also Psalm 1).
But the author of Proverbs is not quite finished yet in warning us against gluttony or excessive drinking of alcohol, and one wonders, how it is that we in the 21st Century (3000 years after this was written) still have not learnt this lesson? He continues:
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
lying on top of the rigging.
35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt!
They beat me, but I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up
so I can find another drink?”
Well, if that doesn’t put one off excessive drinking with all its side effects including hangovers, then I guess nothing will. Goldsworthy comments:
“The perils of drunkenness are put as a riddle. The effects are described, first, as others see the drunkard (v. 29) and secondly, as the drunkard experiences the results of his folly (vv. 33-35). Here is the negation of all the personal qualities that wisdom recommends: self-control, clear perception of reality, and positive relationships.” (# 53)
The really tragic part is then described in verse 35b which describes “the alcoholic [who] craves even more, despite the pain it has already brought him. Addiction is the loss of control over one’s life.” (# 53)
Let me finish with the words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians who writes concerning food sacrificed to idols and being concerned that our behaviour is not causing others to stumble. He says:
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:8-13)
Lord, please examine my heart and the activities in my life. My desire is to live wisely and in no way be a stumbling block to those around me. May my life inspire others to follow you. Amen.
Worship and Wisdom - Psalms and Proverbs 