"For the believer in Jesus Christ, God has given something far greater than the mere necessities and pleasures of a transitory and earthbound life; He has given us His eternal Son, and in Jesus Christ He has appointed spiritual provision at its ultimate summation (I Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:10). Henceforth no man or woman trusting in the Son of God need continue to draw water from any other well to satisfy a thirst in this world (John 4:13-15; 6:35). As we progress in our walks of faith, this one fact should become more and more self-evident: God’s great aim in growing us in grace is to irretrievably teach us that all provision in Christianity from beginning to end is to be found in Jesus Christ alone.
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"The process by which God reveals this teaching to His children is often likened as a nurturing stage and a transition period from milk to meat (Galatians 4:19; I Corinthians 3:1, 2; Hebrews 5:14). In fact, coming to a revelatory understanding that our sufficiency and totality is encapsulated in Christ sheds a unique insight upon the nature of meat as an advanced spiritual food, especially when we take into consideration Christ’s own illustration of meat in pointing to Himself (John 6:55).
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"In John 6:27 the Lord declared not to labor for meat which perishes, but rather for the meat that endures forever. When the Jews asked about the labor by which they might obtain this meat, the answer was simply to “believe on Him whom He hath sent” (John 6:28 KJV). And today, to receive this meat, the labor is exactly the same. But if the new believer and the seasoned believer alike both believe in Christ unto salvation, why is it that one is said to drink milk while the other eats meat?
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"The reason is simple. Although both have put their belief in Christ for salvation, only one has discovered the meat of identification in the all-sufficiency and totality of life in the Son of God. Through a slow and painful course, the meat-eating believer has come to terms with the darkness of his own wretched insufficiency, and the result is a brilliant revelation of Paul’s declaration of “Not I but Christ” (Galatians 2:20), which fosters in him a deep, inner transformation which cannot be shaken.
"This precious understanding comes not without a cost. In the laborious transition from milk to meat, God will bring a believer’s life under excruciating subjection, often to the point of abject despair, to at last convince him of his utter failure. He will dry up any brook of hope and take away any object of stabilization in the believer’s life (Jonah 4:6-8; I Kings 17:7) that threatens to usurp the role of Christ. Even noble gourds and pure brooks such as ministerial work, prayer and Bible study will fall beneath the blade if God detects a potential usurpation.
"We do well to observe that the Lord sent a worm to destroy a gourd He himself prepared and sanctioned for Jonah’s shelter. After the gourd was killed, we read of such a horrible wind and blazing sun afflicting the prophet that Jonah fainted from oppression and contemplated suicide (Jonah 4:8). During the transition from milk to meat in our Christian sojourning, we can see God destroying gourds and drying up brooks He at one time sanctioned for our shelter and comfort too. And like Jonah and Elijah, if we are unable to see God’s hand behind the removal, we too can react in a crestfallen, counter-productive manner.
"In years past, we have seen our levels of devotion wax and wane. We have fluctuated from hot to cold and back to hot again…only to slip back down to cold on the spiritual barometer. Frightened at the prospect of never again regaining a red-hot high, we are reminded of the fate of apathetic believers as spoken of by Christ (Revelation 3:16), and wonder if we too will be among that cursed number on the final day. It never even occurs to us that our current low estate may be due to a gourd God Himself has sent a worm to destroy or a brook He has seen fit to dry up. We instead look to ourselves with a determination to try harder, or to find some alternate route to please God. This mindset defeats the whole purpose God aims to instill within all His children: the absolute abandonment of self-determination and the “trying” to please Him based upon the effort of human willpower, regardless of how noble it might be..."
P.West
**edit** This is an excerpt from a book I'm writing called "And This Life is in His Son"