Blessing food

[Salluz]

I understand thanking God for food; that seems pretty self explanatory. We recognize that He sustains us, including providing the food to meet our physical needs (and the good flavor that comes with it).

But what are we asking when we ask God to bless food after we give thanks for it?

 

[Everlasting Life]

I like to ask that God bless it to nourish our bodies and remove impurities.




And, please, no food fights this time.

Just kidding.

 

[Salluz]

I like to ask that God bless it to nourish our bodies and remove impurities.




And, please, no food fights this time.

Just kidding.

Part of the reason I was asking was thinking of the idea of someone asking that God make greasy fast food nourish the body. It would still be greasy fast food, wouldn't it?

 

[Tall Timbers]

Part of the reason I was asking was thinking of the idea of someone asking that God make greasy fast food nourish the body. It would still be greasy fast food, wouldn't it?

Nothing wrong with greasy fast food if the grease is natural fat.

 

[Spartan Sprinter 1]

Part of the reason I was asking was thinking of the idea of someone asking that God make greasy fast food nourish the body. It would still be greasy fast food, wouldn't it?

End of the day a meal is a meal and some countries would even die to have even greasy fast food so i reckon it's good to give thanks regardless of whether the meal is healthy or unhealthy

 

[Salluz]

End of the day a meal is a meal and some countries would even die to have even greasy fast food so i reckon it's good to give thanks regardless of whether the meal is healthy or unhealthy

Yeah I was trying to get at that when I asked the question, though. I totally understand the giving thanks for everything we do portion, even if it's eating something just for pleasure because pleasure is from God.

I'm just wondering what blessing food "does" I guess

 

[Tall Timbers]

I'm just wondering what blessing food "does" I guess

It's giving thanks for the provisions. It's not taking the blessing of food for granted. It's an opportunity to thank the Lord.

 

[Everlasting Life]

Part of the reason I was asking was thinking of the idea of someone asking that God make greasy fast food nourish the body. It would still be greasy fast food, wouldn't it?

I see where you're coming from.

You know, I do my best to eat healthy....making little, long term changes towards that goal but there are times where life just happens, is busy and a hamburger joint is just the best option. And, yes, I'll pray over those hamburgers. God knows we need to eat and He knows the time crunches I can find myself in. Besides, Rom 14:20 says, "....Remember, all foods are acceptable...."

and in vs 14 Paul says, I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat.....

Here's the Amplified: I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is [forbidden as] essentially unclean (defiled and unholy in itself)......

Here Paul was addressing false teaching but in the process he does share something important about what God thinks about food:

They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. 1 Tim 4:3-4

So, I do my best to eat healthy and trust God with everything I eat, knowing that He created food to be simply eaten with thanks. And, you know, if I'm wanting to make some changes but struggling with how to do this, that's where I'll pray for God's help, guidance to the best kinds of foods for me, where I can get them easily and prepare, etc. And, He's so faithful in this.

Hope this gives some perspective.


As I was typing this I just saw your recent post just above. I remember an article that I for the life of me cannot find where a certain type of picture that took in some sort of lighting, was taken of food before and after prayer and lent to a really interesting viewing. The food before the prayer looked normal, the food after prayer had a kind of bluish glow around the food (I think that was the color). At any rate it showed a difference of the food before and after prayer that seemed to indicate that prayer did indeed have some sort of effect on it.

I would love to find that article again!!!

 

[Salluz]

Nothing wrong with greasy fast food if the grease is natural fat.

It was just an example. Maybe a piece of cake would have been a better example, because it has basically zero nutritional value.

It's giving thanks for the provisions. It's not taking the blessing of food for granted. It's an opportunity to thank the Lord.

I guess maybe the question I should have asked is "is blessing food a separate *thing* from giving thanks for food"? I've been viewing them as separate because I always hear them as separate.

EG "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this food and our opportunity to eat this meal together. I pray that you bless it, that it will nourish us... etc. ... amen"

I've heard it as thanksgiving first and an appeal for the food to be blessed second. I understand the thanksgiving portion of it loud and clear; that's not the portion I've been trying to understand. I guess I can't really get my point across well tonight.

Maybe framing it this way: why do we not stop at giving thanks for a meal. Why do we ask for it to be blessed?

When I say "God bless you" to a person, that's essentially a prayer that God actually blesses the person, right? I can understand how God blessing a person works. It can come about in a bunch of different ways, but it involves God acting in kindness toward that person.

And then when we say things to God like "bless your name," it's something like praise or giving glory to God.

Is blessing food just giving thanks to God (which is a great thing, but then it would not be seperate from thanksgiving), or is there more to it? Is the food changed in some way by having been blessed?

As I was typing this I just saw your recent post just above. I remember an article that I for the life of me cannot find where a certain type of picture that took in some sort of lighting, was taken of food before and after prayer and lent to a really interesting viewing. The food before the prayer looked normal, the food after prayer had a kind of bluish glow around the food (I think that was the color). At any rate it showed a difference of the food before and after prayer that seemed to indicate that prayer did indeed have some sort of effect on it

This is exactly what I was getting at when I originally asked the question in the OP, but the earlier portion of your response did speak to some conflicting thoughts I've been having toward food lately. Thanks for that.

 

[Baby Yoda]

It's giving thanks for the provisions. It's not taking the blessing of food for granted. It's an opportunity to thank the Lord.

I thought the only food that was blessed was for Communion.

 

[Work4Peanuts]

Interesting question. Most of the Bible verses that talk about giving thanks before breaking bread (both in context of communion and just common meals) but as for actually blessing the food that is eaten, I found this one from the OT:

Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

So, there is a difference between giving thanks and receiving blessing specifically on the food.

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

It is absolutely "meet, right, and salutary" that we give thanks to God for our food. Especially since we asked for it in the words of The Lord's Prayer:

11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:11l, KJV


''It is truly meet, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God." etc.
From the traditional Lutheran Preface to the Sacrament [of Holy Communion, aka The Lord's Table, aka The Lord's Supper}


It makes sense that if we give thanks to God for His provision in Holy Communion of both Spiritual and physical gifts and sustenance, and that the elements of bread and wine are consecrated (blessed) for our use and blessing, that we would also thank Him for the physical sustenance he gave us for dinner and ask His blessing on the food and drink at dinner. Note that when we are with family, this mirrors the fellowship with our Church family at Holy Communion.


A traditional Christian dinner prayer, during which God's blessing is asked for ourselves and upon the food:

Bless us O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive,
From Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Jewish people ask God's blessing upon the wine and food before, during, and at the end of the Passover Seder:
At the very end, "Next year in Jerusalem," meaning a desire for Messiah to come during the coming year. In this way, we Christians are like the Jewish people, waiting and expecting Jesus Christ, the Messiah's imminent return. In a sense, thanking God and asking His blessing on the food and drink at dinner points toward His return and eternal provision for us.

Thanking God and asking His blessing on the food is an opportunity for parents to witness to and bring up their children as God commanded, and for children to respond to their parents and God for the blessings of Spiritual and physical sustenance they receive through learning, fellowship, and eating at dinner.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6, KJV