SPIRITUAL HUNGER AND THIRST (Mat 5:6)

(Day 9)

The fourth blessing in the Kingdom of Heaven is:

(Matthew 5:6)  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Hunger and Thirst

Hunger and thirst are intense physical desires that bring us to search for food and drink, which our bodies need.

When you are NOT hungry or thirsty is basically due to of any of these two reasons:

1. You just had something to eat or drink, or
2. You are sick.

Jesus used the analogy of hunger and thirst so that we may better understand the spiritual need we all have. Sadly, not everybody feels that need, either because we consider ourselves satisfied or because we are spiritually sick.

AN EXAMPLE IN SAMARIA

In the Bible we find a story that illustrates what “spiritual hunger and thirst” mean. Jesus explained it to a Samaritan woman who came to a well seeking for water. Let’s read her story:

(John 4:7-10)  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Jesus asked for water because he was physically thirsty. But he saw beyond the physical, and recognized that the woman was spiritually thirsty. Nevertheless, she was not asking for the “gift of God” (justice) because she did not know about it, and didn’t recognize her spiritual need.

(John 4:11-14)  The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman kept thinking that Jesus was referring to “natural water”, when he was really speaking about spiritual water. In a way, the same thing happens to us today. Many of our prayers are centered in asking the Lord for material blessings, when what we need is something more profound. Even if the Lord showers us with material blessings, if we are not transformed spiritually, we will go back to being empty within. The feeling of dissatisfaction will return – that hunger and thirst for the “Gift of God” that we don’t know.

The Samaritan woman didn’t know what gift from God was available for her. But she did know something: she was thirsty, and she wanted whatever the Lord had to offer.

(John 4:15) The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."

SPIRITUAL HUNGER

Later in that same encounter, Jesus also referred to hunger.

(John 4:31-34)  Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

The disciples were thinking about material food, but Jesus was referring to spiritual food, which satiates much more than a physical appetite.

Have you ever experienced this? It may happen when you are so concentrated doing something important, that you forget to eat. It is because you are fulfilling a greater purpose. Jesus said:

(Matthew 4:4)  But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Not just “hearing” the Word, but “doing” the Word. Just like Jesus said, our spiritual food is to do the will of God.

People were often looking for Jesus to obtain natural food or a miracle, but He taught that there was something of greater significance than these. It is far more important to be filled spiritually than to satisfy your physical, temporary needs.

(John 6:26-35)  Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

In tomorrow’s entry we will see what it means to “hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS”…

PRAYER

Lord, today I recognize that I need you. As the deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for You. My soul thirsts for the living God. Only You can satisfy this emptiness inside of me.

Lord, You said that if anyone thirsts, let him come to You and drink… and out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. That is exactly what I want. I need your Spirit to give me life.

Lord, give me Your water. Give me that “Gift of God”, so that I may never thirst again.

[Psalms 42:1-2; John 7:37-39; John 4]