Suggested Reading: Psalm 14:1-7

Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them—Numbers 14:9

“For they are bread for us.” was a saying the enemies of God had whenever they came to ravage God’s people. They would say “They are bread for us.” In other words, destroying or overtaking them will be a “piece of cake!” And now God turns their own saying back on them. The Israelites would take the land as their own possession, destroy their enemy like eating bread. Their victory would be a “piece of cake!”

Anything that is a piece of cake for us is going to be easy. We will be able to do it if we stay the course and believe we can. Sometimes when we have studied hard for an exam and see it before us, as we look it over we say that to ourselves, “piece of cake!” Sometimes we need to give ourselves a little pep talk before we begin or tackle something and repeat that to ourselves, “You can do this! You got this! This is going to be a piece of cake!”

Taking the land for the Israelites was not going to be like eating bread or a piece of cake because they were all powerful and able, but because their God was with them and had already given it over to them, and the very same is true for us also. We can say “I got this, I can do this, piece of cake,” not because we are such a hot shot, but because our God is for us and we can do all things through him who gives us strength (Php. 4:13); he has already claimed and staked our victory also.         

It takes a strong leader, a clever and insightful motivator to keep a million people inspired and moving forward. Whenever the Israelites were so discouraged and wanting to give up Moses needed to keep them filled up with encouragement. Give them a spiritual pep talk, remind them who their God was and who they were, remind them of God’s presence and promises, remind them to keep pressing, keep believing, keep trusting and in step with God because they were going to make it, they would be able to overcome their great enemies; the land nor their enemies would not eat them alive nor swallow them, up but they could overcome their enemies as easily as eating bread; piece of cake!

Sermon time in the Christian Church is our spiritual pep talk. God chooses a spiritual leader for us and fills him or her with messages to give us so we can stay focused, be encouraged, remain strong. Someone to motivate us and keep us moving forward. Those spiritual pep talks, or sermons as we call them, are an important part of our week, the words from God that keep us motivated and moving in the right direction, help us feel and live boldly and confidently.

From the time I was a little girl I loved the sermon time. From the moment our pastor would get into the pulpit I was attentive, my ears opened. At the time, I was not sure why I felt good, stronger and motivated to do my best. I did not know that is the impact hearing or reading God’s Word is to have on us, I just knew it touched me and strengthened me; made me hopeful and inspired to be the very best I could.  

I can imagine Daniel sitting on the rock in the lion’s den; Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Joseph in the bottom of the cistern, Sampson, standing between the two pillars, Queen Esther standing before the King, Mary, announcing her pregnancy as an unmarried teen, Paul before Felix, Jesus before Pontius Pilate; God whispering “You got this, your enemy will be bread for you; I got you, piece of cake!”      

If we needed to summarize God’s message to us from Genesis to Revelation, then it would be: You got this! You can do this! Your enemies or the land or earth will not swallow you up or eat you alive, they are bread for you, “piece of cake!” Not because things will be so easy but because God is with us and nothing will overcome us as long as he is with us and we are with him.

Sometimes life will get hard, sometimes we will feel crushed under the weight of life or circumstances, sometimes our battles will be a lot to endure, but even so God’s message will not change, he will continue to say the same thing to us because his position with us has not changed since the beginning of time. He will speak those messages of motivation to us, inspire and exhort us on our journey, whispering those words he wants us to grab hold of, claim, and repeat back to ourselves when things get tough; “You’re okay! You got this! You can do it! They are bread for you; piece of cake!“ Let’s Pray,

Our Father in Heaven, your ways with us are gentle, nurturing, and loving. You come to fill us with confidence to remind us that as long as you remain in us and we remain in you we can do this, we can defeat any enemy, we can conquer any fear, we can do what needs to be done, taking our enemy will be like eating bread; piece of cake! May we remain confident in you to go out and eat our bread and enjoy our piece of cake! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen