Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    And lean not on your own understanding
In all your ways submit to him
    And he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Writing about life from a hindsight perspective “after the suffering”, is an important topic for the Christian writer.

This is because we are reminded how important hope is.

No matter how difficult the situation may be, when God explains Himself, everything make sense.

This question was once asked in my family,

“Why couldn’t God just forgive our sins without Jesus having to die on the cross?”

I like the reply of another family member, “Because there was simply no other way.”

What if we asked this question today,

“Why can’t we go through life without experiencing suffering?”

What if the answer was, “No, we cannot go through life without experiencing suffering because there is simply no other way.”

How do we explain then that we have no choice in partaking of this human suffering?

We cannot explain this fully as God doesn’t always provide answers to every question.

I like to think that the answer is found in the space between the words.

I heard this statement recently but I am not sure who said it.

“Sometimes the most profound statements are made in the spaces between words.”

This place is where we run out of words and we allow God to fill it with His statements so profound, that only by biblical faith, do we understand them now.

Earth has never heard these statements before.

This muted heavenly language is only reserved for God Himself.

When any area in life doesn’t make sense to me, I like to nestle all question marks under Deuteronomy 29:29.

“The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that He has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”

Recently I saw this question online, “Can a Christian starve to death?”

As a writer at helenolenjin.life, I am answering this question today.

If you followed my short term Uganda project, you will know why I am writing about this.

If you asked fifty different Christian writers this question, I am sure they would all answer a bit differently.

My response is certainly not complete and misses so many other vital areas. But for now, I will share a few thoughts on this subject.

Firstly, God’s spiritual food is what truly endures.

When there is no physical food around just yet, there is no famine of God in 2024!

Recently when communicating to a hungry soul who lived in Uganda, I had no choice but to share God’s Word with him.

What other option was left?

Zero.

At least GOD was available 24/7.

These conversations I had with him were awkward.

He may have even asked the unthinkable question, “Is it God’s will that I starve to death?”

There was good news though!

This young man was eating spiritual food!

He was reading the Word of God on his phone.

He had faith.

He was praying.

I was very thankful for that!

“For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

“Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God. They trust their wealth instead and grow more and more bold in their wickedness.” (Psalm 52:7)

Writing this post during famine, brings up the deception of physical food without God.

Physical food is not God.

Physical food can become our idol.

Since when did fruit, vegetables, meat, vitamins and minerals, get you to heaven faster?

A full stomach is not an express ticket to heaven.

A full stomach can be a deceptive stomach.

Remember the rich man in the Bible who ignored the beggar Lazarus?

I am sure he felt very warm and filled but it certainly wasn’t the filling of the Holy Spirit.

It was only a deceptive filling.

Like the Psalm 52:7 mighty warrior!

The Bible states he ended up in hell.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke 16)

Physical food is important.

But not the most important in God’s eyes.

Dying of starvation, does not mean God spiritually deprived you of Himself.

You were deprived of physical food.

Not of God Himself.

I like what Tim Challies said,

“That destination may be death, or that destination may be greater holiness. But whatever it is, that destination is not nothing, it is not meaningless. What this tells me is that any suffering we experience in this life is in some way under the sovereignty of God, in some way under the banner of “I shall not want.” God gives his people exactly what they need in order to lead them where he has determined they ought to go. Where they ought to go–where they will go–is the place that will bring glory to God.”

God’s earthly food, is not the only resource needed, to help a soul survive and do His spiritual will.

What is needed the most, is God Himself.

Man does not live by bread alone, remember?

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

God’s authority will never bow to food.

God is Your Supply!

Not the supplies themselves!

We must believe this!

Otherwise earth can become an idol to us.

When God Himself is our food and drink, we can rest assured, that no other earthly resource is better than God Himself.

God is the One Who keeps us going.

His breath of life!

Not the sliced bread in life!

Today, food has become an idol to many.

Food has no soul.

Jesus did not die for food.

We hold food in very high esteem.

Food has an unhealthy control over us.

We think, “If I can just get my diet right, then everything will go well.”

We then hang everything from this root.

But from this root, comes dysfunction.

Why?

Only because we are trusting the power of food more than God Himself.

Meaning, “If I eat YOU right, YOU will give me long life, YOU will give me strength, YOU will give me good health and YOU will help me stay in control.”

Replace the “YOU” words with “GOD” and read the above sentence again!

Feel better? Yes! Me too.

The idolatry of food can draw us away from trusting God fully.

No wonder God weaned me off diets and drew me to only Himself!

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (1 Corinthians 10)

It was a painful experience for me during my Uganda project.

But I was forced to view it through the lenses of heaven!

This supernatural perspective truly helped me!

When you go through the difficulties in life, it seems as if heaven has been cropped out!

But heaven is still there.

If God opened your spiritual eyes –

I have no doubt that you would see ministering angels, God’s provisions, new resources to come and maybe even the after shots too!

It’s the hardest lesson to learn but it’s a necessary one – trust God Himself.

Never food.

Never a full stomach.

Never money.

Never your job.

Never your looks.

Never your abilities.

Never your spiritual gifts.

Never your thoughts.

Never anything at all.

Never anyone at all.

Except God Himself.

Spiritual food and heavenly strength provided by God is what endures long after the physical is gone!

This is the only lasting power that will keep you going as it comes from God Himself.

A soul starving to death is not the worst thing.

A soul eternally separated from God is.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20)

“Dear God. Please help me to feed the hungry and minister to your lost souls.”

♡♡♡