April 30

The bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. — John 6:33

Nothing that grows out of the soil will feed our souls.

We were made for God, and must feed our immortal nature on heavenly bread. There is a story of a pilgrim, crossing the desert and famishing for bread, who came upon a bag of pearls lying in the sand. He hoped the bag contained food, and eagerly opened it. But he flung it from him in bitter disappointment, saying, “It is only pearls, and I am starving for bread.”

What pearls are to a starving man – a bitter mockery – the riches and honors of this world are to a human spirit in its times of sore need, as when the sense of sin overwhelms the soul, when a great sorrow has come into the life. Nothing but bread will satisfy hunger. Nothing but Christ will meet the needs and cravings of a soul in its times of distress.

“Art thou weary, art thou languid,
Art thou sore distress’d?
‘Come to Me,’ saith One, ‘and coming, be at rest.’”