The issue of when to eat has two parts, but we may not be able to cover both in this post. As a reminder, this is a continuation of our series on Divine Health. First, there is the number of your daily meals. How many meals should you have in a twenty-four-hour period? The second point about when to eat relates to the time of day that you consume your food. We should have time today to deal with the first part as we see it in the bible.
In biblical times, there were two mealtimes in each day. Are we saying you should start copying them? No. But it helps us to know both how to study the bible and how to apply it faithfully. In this case of when to eat, we observe that the people of the bible times were either farmers or fishermen. Of course, as in any society, there were exceptions to this rule. You might find some pastors, tentmakers, even a few lawyers, a handful of medical doctors, some magicians, and so on.
But in the main, most able-bodied men worked the land or fished the sea. How do we then apply that to our own time? Unless you are a farmer, fisherman, or construction worker, you may have more than two meals a day. And that is instructive regarding when to eat.
Even today, the construction workers in our midst still tend to eat only twice a day. What do all these people have in common? Their work is outside and they therefore rise early to try and beat the sun to work. Getting up early to start the day does not leave you much time for breakfast. That in turn affects when you eat your first meal of the day.
Apply Bible Lessons Only In Context
Secondly, all the examples we looked at work with their hands, not only their heads. That is why you cannot find a fat construction worker. Unlike office workers, they expend a lot of physical energy in their jobs. After you have been doing physical work, you are very hungry, ready to eat a lot when you eat. That means that each time they eat, they need a big meal.
The heavy meal in turn means they are very full for the next few hours. That means that their next meal will probably not come up until later in the evening. And an hour or so after such a meal, they are exhausted enough to go to bed. Don’t forget they have to wake up the following morning anyway. So the cycle of when to eat goes, closely mirroring bible times.
Does this mean that you, an office worker should apply bible eating times to your life? Not necessarily. Your job starts later in the day, giving you time to eat breakfast before leaving home. Then you get to the office to push papers and hold meetings. You are not using much energy or calories. But because it says lunchtime on the clock, you eat something light. And by nighttime, you are again hungry. You eat and if you stay up late, you eat again.
Regarding when to eat, we are not recommending bible times patterns unless that is contextual for you. Neither are we recommending 5 or more meals a day unless your doctor prescribed it for health reasons. For example, if you are still growing, three main meals and three snacks may be in order.
Your Body Knows When To Eat
I confess I went through a period when I ate six such meals every day. We used all those calories to grow taller and stronger, not for putting on weight.
However, there is one thing I want to point out. In the previous paragraph, there was a thought of how the clock tells you when to eat. That’s right. Eating three square meals a day is a modern invention. At 8 am, eat breakfast. At noon, it is time for lunch and at 6 pm, you eat dinner like clockwork, whether you are hungry or not. But would you know that your body will tell you when to eat if you are disciplined? Sadly, many of us in these times are not as disciplined as we ought to be. We listen to the TV and let it show us when to eat.
It should therefore not be a surprise that obesity is becoming an epidemic. And when one is fat, diabetes and high blood pressure are knocking on that person’s life’s door. That is the reason we are concerned about it. Don’t die before you accomplish your God-given purpose just because you let others tell you when to eat. Next week, if Jesus tarries with the trumpet that calls us home, we shall consider the second point about when to eat.
To your health!
Maranatha.
