Deuteronomy 8:10 (KJV)
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

I remember years ago preaching in Bakersfield, CA at a church there. When the offering was received the pastor leaned over and, with great pleasure, informed me that they pray after the offering and not, as is traditional, before. I had never seen that before but there is certainly nothing with that.

Conversely, I remember sitting down to eat with an evangelist (a meal, I might add, I was paying for) at a steak restaurant in Oklahoma City that served peanuts before the meal. I took a peanut out of the basket when the evangelist, with the command that only an evangelist presumes he has, demanded, “Are you going to pray for that before you eat it?” The last thing a host preacher wants to do is offend an evangelist before he preaches, so I asked the Lord to bless our meal before I ate the peanut.

Frankly, I might just as Biblically thanked the Lord for the food we had been privileged to eat as to ask him to bless the food we were about to receive. There are Biblical mandates for both.

Praying before our meal is taken from the example of Christ and further instructed upon by Paul to Timothy. But neither represents a clear command. It just goes to demonstrate how easy it is for us to turn our own habitats into spiritual commands.

When I am for praying for our meals. I prefer to pray before I eat. My point has little to do with when we give thanks for our food.

I just want to be reminded to be Biblical, not necessarily traditional in my Christianity.

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Deuteronomy 8:10 (KJV) Be Biblical

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