Like a Newborn Baby...[Isaiah 49:14-16, 1 Peter 2:1-3]

Isaiah 49:14-16

14But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me;

   my Lord has forgotten me."

 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child,

 

   that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

 

Even these may forget,

 

   yet I will not forget you.

 

16Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

 

   your walls are continually before me.

 


1 Peter 2:1-3

 1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

 

As I watch my newest granddaughter, Ellie, suckling at her mother’s breast, the words from 1 Peter come sharply to mind - like newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word. 

 

The first few weeks of a baby’s life are full of adjustments.  As I watch and help the process with my granddaughter, I see what God is calling me to.  She has a desire for the milk but it takes trying to receive the milk to learn how to get the right latch.  Sometimes she just nuzzles and only gets drippings.  But to get the true satisfaction of a good feeding she needs to nurse strongly and eat often. 

 

Like Ellie, I have longed for that pure spiritual milk.  I have come often and gulped, gulped and gulped.  I have been satisfied, but then immediately wanted more.  I do know what it is like to have that newborn desire.  But then, I don’t come as often, or I come in a hurry.  I get enough to get by.  Soon I am passive, sleepy and I don’t open my mouth wide to receive what He has for me.  How do I get back to that strong nursing in the word?

 

First, I need to ask God for the strength and desire to carve out more time to eat deeply.  I need to ask Him to enable me to do it more often, until once again I recognize my need for the nourishment.  Lord, make us like newborn babes again.  Today. 

 

We praise You, Father, that you are like a nursing mother who will never forget your child.  You will keep offering your nourishment even when we become complacent. You keep drawing us to Your breast.  You satisfy us when we open our mouths wide.  (Psalm 81:10)  We have tasted that You are good.

Verna McCrillis, 10/21/2011