Clean your plate!

When you were little, did you live under the "clean your plate" rule?   I remember this vividly at my childhood friend's house.  You were to clean your plate even if there were lima beans on it.  Yuk!  lol.

Growing up, I don't remember being told to "clean your plate" because thankfully, everything my mom prepared I liked, and the portions were allotted so that my brothers and I didn't have more on our plates then we could eat.  Yet interestingly, as an adult, I seem to have this sense that I must clean my plate because it would be wasteful to take food and not eat it.

My children were told that if they didn't finish what was on their plate, they would see it again for the next meal.  So, yes, if they didn't finish their dinner they would see it at breakfast.  That tactic was highly motivating and did not have to be implemented more than once or twice.

There are a few Biblical applications here that we will explore in today's post...

Clean Your Plate! - There is no wastefulness in God's economy

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man

 shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.  And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; 

anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

Exodus 12:3-4;10

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; 

they kept part of it until morning, 

but it was full of maggots and began to smell. 

Exodus 16:19-20a

There is no wastefulness in God's economy...

The Lord has provided a bounty for our daily plates through His Word - plates that He indeed wants us to clean and to take second and third helpings!  Just like food provides nutrients to our physical bodies that keep them operating properly, God's Word provides nutrients to keep our souls operating properly.  

Too often though, we take in a large portion of Scripture, but then don't apply it to our lives.  Essentially hoarding it...

But be doers of the word, 

and not hearers only, 

deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

We are wasting God's precious Words.

And because we don't apply God's Word to a specific area of sin in our lives, the Lord may repeat lessons (trials) over and over again, until we walk in that specific Word.  {I wrote about how to avoid "repeat lessons" in my blog post Tests and Make-up Exams which you can read HERE.}

Clean Your Plate!  - Especially in the wilderness

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew

 lay around the camp.  And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness 

a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.  When the people of Israel saw it, they 

said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 

“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 

The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. 

They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Exodus 16:13-15;35

The Lord has provided the beautiful Words of Scripture for us when we find ourselves in the wilderness.  Like the Israelites who were provided manna the entire 40 years they wandered in the desert, God's Word is our provision during this Pilgrim journey. We can never exhaust His Words or the nourishment, application and most especially comfort they provide this side of Heaven.

God having provided manna to be his people's food in the wilderness, the remembrance of it was to be preserved. Eaten bread must not be forgotten. God's miracles and mercies are to be had in remembrance. The word of God is the manna by which our souls are nourished, Matthew 4:4. The comforts of the Spirit are hidden manna, Revelation 2:17. These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and comfort of the Divine life in the soul, while we are in the wilderness of this world. Christ in the word is to be applied to the soul, and the means of grace are to be used. We must every one of us gather for ourselves, and gather in the morning of our days, the morning of our opportunities; which if we let slip, it may be too late to gather. The manna must not be hoarded up, but eaten; those who have received Christ, must by faith live upon him, and not receive his grace in vain. There was manna enough for all, enough for each, and none had too much; so in Christ there is enough, but not more than we need. But those who ate manna, hungered again, died at last, and with many of them God was not well pleased; whereas they that feed on Christ by faith, shall never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God will be for ever well pleased. Let us seek earnestly for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to turn all our knowledge of the doctrine of Christ crucified, into the spiritual nourishment of our souls by faith and love.

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary Exodus 16

Clean Your Plate! - Share the beneficial nutrients

There is another way that we tend to waste the Word of God, and that is by not sharing it.  The Lord tells us that His Words do not come back void.  They are alive and active.  In my post, I've got the Cure!, I mentioned a quote by Kathie Lee Gifford who said, "You know what? If you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it quiet, or would you hold it and keep it a secret?’ And I always say, I have the cure for the malignancy of the soul – and He has a name – and it’s Jesus.”

Are you withholding the "cure for the malignancy of the soul", by not sharing what the Lord has done in your own life or what He has done for mankind?

“Declare His glory among the nations, 

His wonders among all peoples.”

Psalm 96:3

 “And He said to them,

 ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'”

Mark 16:15

As each has received a gift, 

use it to serve one another, 

as good stewards of God's varied grace:

1 Peter 4:10

Let us not be wasteful with the precious Bread of Life.  But feed upon it daily...

The paschal lamb was not to be looked upon only, but to be fed upon. So we must by 

faith make Christ our own; and we must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him,

 as from our food. It was all to be eaten; those who by faith feed upon Christ, must feed upon a whole Christ; they must take Christ and his yoke, Christ and his cross, as well as Christ and his crown. It was to be eaten at once, not put by till morning.

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary, Exodus 12

For more posts about the emotional and spiritual benefits of spending time in the Word of God, please check out the following posts:

Keeping Our Word

The Voice - Bible Edition

How to Study the Word of God Effectively

    Remember to Clean Your Plate at God's banquet table (the Word of God)              where you will experience all of its' benefits!  

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