Saturday February 8, 2025
Piece of Cake
By Jenny Pfister
Elijah was told by the Lord to go to a place called Zarephath where he would meet a widow whom God had commanded to take care of him. But when he asked her to make a cake for him, she responded, “I have no bread…I have only enough for my son and myself so that we may eat and die.” Yet she overcame her fear, and responded in faith and God was faithful to His promise to take care of her (1 Kin.17:14-15).
Bake me a cake…hmmm. As I meditated on this verse, the Lord began to put together a study about baking cakes…actually, about the ingredients in a cake. Just as Elijah asked the widow to make him a small cake, the Lord is asking us to do the very same thing. But we might respond with, “I don’t have all the ingredients,” or, “I’m too busy to make a cake right now,” or even, “I don’t know how to make a cake.” This cake is a picture of our lives. In fact, God refers to His people as cakes!
Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. (Hos.7:8 MEV)
New International Version says His people are “a flat loaf not turned over,” while The New Living Translation calls them a “worthless as a half-baked cake!” In other words, they were over–baked on one side and under-done on the other. Similar to the charges against Israel, in Revelation 3:2, Christ charges the church of Sardis with works that are “not complete” or “partially performed”. Half-heartedness is never condoned by God. God demands consecration of one’s entire being.
They were living half-hearted, unbalanced lives with some ingredients missing. If we are to live our lives for the Lord, we must have all of the ingredients in balance. So for a perfect cake to offer to God, this is what we will need:
Flour – Flour is made from wheat, which, in the Bible was purified on the threshing floor…the place of prayer and offering. The first ingredient is a sacrificial life (Num.15:20)
When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. (Lev.2:1 NKJV)
Sugar – The Word of God is likened to honey on our lips, sweet to our soul. The second ingredient is a Word dependent life.
How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Ps.119:103 NKJV)
Salt – Salt adds savor to the cake. The Hebrew word for salt is the same as covenant or treaty. The seasoning in our lives is the third ingredient…a covenant life or a promised life to God.
Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt? (2 Chr.13:5 NKJV)
And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Lev.2:13 NLKV)
Baking Soda – Baking soda ia a leavening agent that causes the cake to rise. Matthew tells us that the Kingdom of God is like leaven rising within us. The fourth ingredient is a kingdom life, subject to Jesus the King.
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (Matt.13:33 NKJV)
Milk – Milk moistens the cake so that the other ingredients can be mixed. God promised a land flowing with milk and honey. He wants to take care of us with His precious promises. The fifth ingredient is a life of believing and trusting His promise of provision.
So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. (Ex.3:8 NKJV)
Oil – Oil (or butter) is the fat. Leviticus 3:16 says that all fat belongs to the Lord. Since oil is representative of the Holy Spirit, we must be filled with His oil and surrender our lives to God. The sixth ingredient is a Spirit-filled life.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. (1 Sam.16:13 NKJV)
Vanilla – Vanilla creates the sweet aroma. It’s the smell that wafts through and fills the whole house. We are called to be the sweet aroma of Christ in all places. The seventh ingredient is a life of witness.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. (2 Cor.2:14 NKJV)
Egg – The egg is the emulsifier, binding all other ingredients together. It brings all the parts into unity with one another. Paul tells us Colossians that we are to put on love which brings perfect unity. The last ingredient is a life of love.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. (Col.3:14 NKJV)
This is what our lives should look like…all things working in perfect balance. But remember, a cake does not bake the moment it is put into the oven. It takes time in the fire to raise the cake and bake it to perfection. This is a picture of us in God’s refining fire (Zech.13:9). We are not finished yet, but as we live for Him, He refines us until we come out as pure gold…a perfectly baked cake! Hallelujah! (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of refine)
