Adversity as Divine bread.
"The bread of adversity, and the water of affliction." We can only think of God by the help of our associations with man. Therefore, in the revelation which he has given us in a book, God is spoken of as if he had the form of a man (anthropomorphism), and as if he had the feelings of a man (anthropopathism). We, indeed, know no other moral beings beside man, and probably our senses would allow of the apprehension of no other. We are not allowed to create material images representing God, but we are allowed to think of God through the figures of the human being. Answering to this is the truth that we can only know our soul through our body; we have to think of it as a kind of spiritual body. So it needs care, clothing, feed, etc; eves as the body. This is the line on which it can best be shown that adversity is Divine bread for the soul, which must be nourished by appropriate food. Working out this thought, two points may be more especially treated.
I. BREAD IS THE STAPLE FOOD FOR THE BODY. It is in itself sufficient to sustain life; it contains all the necessary elements for the renewal of vitality. So is adversity the staple food for the soul; for it contains all the necessary elements for the renewal of character. Since we are sinners, wayward, and willful, the prosperities of life are but like luxuries; and adversity is our staple food, which nourishes humility, penitence, godly fear, and trust. The expression is used of King Manasseh, the willful, who, in prison, was fed with the bread and water of affliction, and thereby nourished unto penitence, forsaking of sin, and hearty return to the God of his fathers. If we pray, "Feed me with food convenient for me," we must clearly see that the answer may include "adversity and affliction."
II. BREAD IS A GENERAL TERM EMBRACING ALL NECESSARY FOOD. And necessary food for the body includes some things that are unpleasant to the taste. Sometimes even medicine is bread—the very best of bread for us under the circumstances. And so our soul-conditions and our soul-culture may make necessary things that are very trying to feeling. "No affliction for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby."—R.T.