What Baking a Cake Teaches About God’s Faithfulness
My life is good…but it’s definitely not a piece of cake! My family, like any, has a lot of struggles and they change regularly. There are times that are more difficult than others. Sometimes, we have periods in which there is no choice but to grow or die and other times feel a little easier. But God is good and God’s faithfulness has radiated through all of it! Right now is a period of growth for me and yesterday, God faithfully delivered the encouragement and the lesson I needed…through a story of baking a cake.
I was traveling with our children and listening to a Christian radio station. That station often plays short clips from the comedian, Ken Davis, so whenever we hear that coming up, the volume immediately goes up! Yesterday, he didn’t share something funny. Instead, he shared a valuable lesson about Romans 8:28.
Romans 8:28 states: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
And he proceeded to share a story about a little boy visiting his grandma. Grandma was baking a cake while the boy shared all of the negative things happening in his life at the time. Grandma said, “Would you like a snack?” Of course, the boy eagerly said, “Yes!” as he knew that cake would soon be complete.
Instead, Grandma offered him some cooking oil. The boy quickly replied, “Yuck! No way!” Grandma then offered him salt, baking soda, and flour as snacks, all to which the boy replied, “No.”
Then, Grandma offered him this lesson: “These ingredients are like the things that happen in our lives. On its own, oil tastes bad, but in a cake, it tastes great!” She continued, “That’s how God works in our lives. He takes the bad things and uses them to create something beautiful, like this cake.”
My children said, “I thought these clips were supposed to be funny!” But I recognized God’s faithfulness immediately.
Oh, how I needed to hear those words! I needed that reminder because well, right now, my life is a whole lot of ingredients and not a lot of cake! It’s bitter and salty, but I have the promise that God is never asleep on the job. He is always working and He won’t stop now!
God knew exactly where I was, and He met me there. He reminded me of His promise in Romans 8:28 and encouraged me to hold on…to hold out for the cake!
In the story, Grandma focused on the bitter, or bad-tasting ingredients to teach her grandson because those were the things in his life he was focused on. HOWEVER, we must not forget that there are sweet ingredients too! Had she offered him a taste of the sugar, he probably would have gladly accepted!
I only bring this up because it’s important, when taking inventory of all of your bitter ingredients, to not forget the sweet ones! The Lord is so gracious to us! He gives so many sweet ingredients, if we choose to notice!
God’s faithfulness to me yesterday, in meeting me where I was at, was sweet. I also had such a sweet day with my children and made fun memories…very sweet. In my time of discouragement, He has used kind, generous, and gracious friends to encourage me. He has also given me the right words to use to teach my children; brought to mind word pictures when I have needed them; and brought others into my life who need encouragement. All of these are sweet ingredients!
Now, think of what a cake would be like if it were only sweet! A few months ago, my daughter and I experimented with making a giant cookie three-layer cake! It was EPIC! It was three layers of chocolate-chip cookie, each with a smattering of cream cheese frosting in between. This thing looked beyond delicious…
But when we actually ate it, it was too sweet. Even though there was no sugar in the cream cheese frosting (because I was worried about it being too sweet), it was still just too much…even for my sweet tooth daughter!
Too many sweet ingredients cause a cake to be inedible, really, proving that we actually need those bitter ingredients to balance things out.
So, for me, there are bitter ingredients right now, which are gross…not gonna lie. But there are sweet ingredients in there too. I just have to work harder at seeing them and appreciating them! And the bottom line is that God knows exactly which ones we need to make that cake taste unbelievably delicious!
If you’re going through something hard, with a lot of bitter ingredients right now, hold onto that promise. God will use this. He doesn’t go back on His word! And He will meet you right where you’re at. Can you see Him in the hard stuff? Open your eyes. He’s already there with you!
RElated: Foundations of Faith
