A New Word

I wonder if Peter would have had his vision about the clean and the unclean food had he not been hungry.  When food gets on our mind, or when our stomach starts growling for food, all sorts of things can start happening.  Verse 10 of that 9th chapter of Acts says, ""Peter became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance."  Some might say what happened was hunger induced and maybe hunger had something to do with it, but it is more likely that what Peter experienced in that moment of vision was Spirit induced. 

 

If God can use a sunset, or a soaring eagle, or a mother hen as a means of pointing us toward Himself, who is to say He cannot use a growling stomach.  We know from our practice of fasting that a body deprived of food for spiritual purposes can bring an increased sensitivity to both the presence and the voice of God.  In those moments significant spiritual experiences can shed light on our way forward.  Such was the case with Jesus after His baptism and, perhaps, this is part of what enabled Peter to think about food in a different way.

 

God has a knack for taking ordinary things and causing us to see them in different ways.  Once I saw a fallen limb on the ground and also saw that it was on its way to becoming a part of the earth, every limb I see on the ground reminds me that I, too, shall finally become broken and become a part of the earth.  On another day as I was carrying the trash out of the house, it suddenly came to me in a new way that I am not as careful caring for the earth as I would like to believe.  So, if God can use broken limbs and cans full of trash to get my attention, surely it is not beyond the realm of possibilities that He used an empty stomach to grab Peter's attention so that he could hear a new Word from Him.