Is The Bread Of The Presence Before Worship?

When the children of Israel lived in the wilderness and became hungry, God fed them manna, a flakey white substance that fell from heaven like dew during the night. Early each morning, except on the Sabbath, when no manna fell, the Israelites had to go out and gather the manna from the ground. Then they could grind it or pound it into flour and make bread to feed themselves.

The Bible says that God was teaching His people a valuable lesson by letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna — a lesson to be remembered by all people in all times.

"Yes, He humbled you

by letting you go hungry

and then feeding you with manna,

a food previously unknown to you

and your ancestors.

He did it to teach you

that people do not live by bread alone;

rather, we live by every word

that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

Deuteronomy 8:3 (NLT)

The bread by which God's people today are to live is EVERY word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

The symbolism of bread appears again in the Old Testament: before the priests, Aaron and his sons, could enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle of the Lord, which is where God's glorious presence was, they had to partake of the Bread of the Presence that was to remain on the table before the Lord at all times.

"Place the Bread of the Presence on the table

to remain before me at all times."

Exodus 25:30 (NLT)

These are symbolically parallel to what God's people must do to worship God before entering His presence. First, we must cleanse our hearts, and, second, we must partake of the Bread of Life — the Word of God. Watching video clips, telling jokes, sharing Internet information, and maybe, somewhere in all that mess, throwing in a few popular verses from the Bible isn't what God means. We are to respect, delight in, and live by His Word.

After the cleansing process and the partaking of the Bread, God's people are to enter worship and communion with Him. We are not to rush to church, chat in the foyer with friends, walk into the worship service late with unclean hearts and hands, sing songs of praise pretending to really mean the words, partake of the few "crumbs" offered by the message, sing one last song, leave, and then wonder why we didn't feel God's presence and why He seems so far away.