When I was visiting family in Washington, my. Daughter-in-law made what I consider an interesting comment about when we should thank God for the food. I have always said grace before eating my food, and since Laura is a strict rule-follower Messianic Jew by faith, I just asked her to say the blessing so that I didn’t accidentally pray something that offended her beliefs. I was totally surprised to find out that I had done so anyway, because it turns out, she believes that the Bible instructs us to thank God for the food after we have eaten it and not before. She quoted a scripture that said something like “whatsoever ye shall eat, thank the Lord for it”, which she interprets as eating the food and then thanking God for it, because that is what she was taught by her church. My interpretation of saying grace before meals , is that not only are we thanking God for providing it, but we are also asking him to bless the food that we are about to eat. Personally, my belief is that as long as we let God know that we are thankful for his blessings, then we have served the purpose, but I wondered if anyone else here says their grace after eating instead of before, and if so, why you do that ? For the purpose of this thread, the question is not about whether you do or don’t ask God to bless your food; but simply whether you do it before or after eating.
We always, really......always, say a prayer before we eat at home. I'm generally the one to say Grace, but she will sometimes. TV goes on Mute and we thank the Lord for the food (we are about to eat), Bless those that prepared it, to watch over us and keep us healthy and safe, thanks for the Blessings he's given us, watch over our family/friends and guide us in life. The "guide us in life" could be a few different things.
It can be difficult to ascertain what is likely to please God, but I'd like to believe that the intention of pleasing God would be sufficient. I do not regularly say grace before (or after) meals, largely because we didn't do that growing up, and I have never been in the habit of doing so. Given that it doesn't come naturally for me to do so, I can't help but view it as a ritual. While Scripture is certainly full of hints that God appreciates ritual, they seem shallow to me.
Before meeting my wife, I never said a prayer before a meal. Heck, I very seldom even went to church either. But, the first Easter we were together, she took me to the church she attended and I was in full rodeo Western attire as she was. After that, we started going to The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. dressed the same way. Now we are going to TRY and find a church here to go to. Our first one will be the Cowboy Church here.
If we are to follow the example of Jesus, in one instance (Matthew 14:19-21) He looked to heaven and blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples to serve the 5000. In so saying, there is certainly nothing wrong with giving thanks to God after a meal but traditionally, the prayer before a meal is essentially asking God to bless the meal before it is eaten.
I always have felt that asking for the food to be blessed, it is better to give thanks to who ever provided it. Does having the food blessed guarantee good digestion or lack of indigestion?
Since Jesus spoke Aramaic, which is a slang of Hebrew, He would've been saying: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, hamotzi lehem min ha'aretz. Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth. I'm quite sure it is the thought that counts, but theoretically, Jesus would be blessing God, not the food. Blessing the actual food would be like blessing a tree or a rock. You only bless people or God. It is sort of a 'well being' endearment.
Most "blessings" I have heard are more along the lines of thanks for the food and 'bless us, Lord.' This is done before eating. We are not a religious household so this isn't something we do.
I quoted the KJV which is the standard for early America and it clearly says “Blessed” which is why we ask the question, “who will ask the blessing”? On the other hand, the NIV gives it as, “And He gave thanks and broke the bread”. We do get a bit wound up in translations. 1Samuel 9:13 tells us”. For the people will not eat till he ones, since he must bless the sacrifice; ESV Exodus 23:25 (again ESV) You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. Either way, it’s still extremely simplistic. Whether we wish to call it asking God to bless the food or thanking God for the food, God knows what is in our hearts and no human translation of the spoken or written word however loosely or strictly held to can stand up what God understands us to mean.
My dad still prays those words before we eat. It is followed by a 'let it go' eye contact between my mom and I. The Bible says God looks at a person's heart, not his choice of ritual. I guess it's much like when our kids were growing up, if they said 'I wove you' instead of 'I love you'.....it's all good to your heart.
I didn't mean to be confusing. I was only referring to the actual words Jesus would have been praying. For me, any translation of the Bible is great because it's the content that counts. However, coming from the Hebrew into English , it can get complicated. They use words which for us are whole sentences and vice versa. So, it becomes a translational thing and I'm no linguistic. It is oddities such as... instead of saying 'you make me smile' the translation sort of comes out as 'you make the sun shine on my face'.
Judy and I believe it is most meaningful and sincere to offer Grace while enjoying our meal. We feel that He would appreciate seeing how we're enjoying His bounty! Hal