Sunday, April 26, 2015

Hunger and Thirst

Hunger and Thirst
April 27, 2015
Matthew 5:6  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

If you are hungry, your body communicates to you through various ways, and you find a way to satisfy that hunger.  You've learned over the years what it feels like to be hungry; you recognize the signals and respond accordingly.  It is no surprise that very few of us have gone a single day without recognizing hunger and finding a way to eat.  This same goes with water.  If your body is thirsty, you find a way to drink.  There is a drive deep within you for survival and when the need presents itself you figure out a way to meet that need.  As the need becomes greater, the intensity for the search increases along with it.  It is instinctual, the physical hunger and thirst in our human bodies, and it awakens our minds to motivate our actions to satisfy the need.

But what about our spiritual hunger and thirst?  Is it the same as our physical hunger and thirst for food and water?  I would suggest it is the exact same, but unlike the hunger pangs or a dry mouth, we do not as readily recognize the spiritual hunger and thirst inside of us.  If your mouth is dry and feels like cotton, your body knows it is time to refresh it with water.  But when your soul is dry, how do you know it is time to replenish?  How do you know what will actually replenish it?   Have you recognized the signs in your life to awaken the mind enough to take action?  Like hunger pangs, most of us have spiritual pangs present yet we fail to recognize it as such.  We notice a lacking within our soul but we aren't in tune with it enough to recognize it for what it is.  All we know is that we lack, as so we attempt to satisfy it with other things.  For each of us it is different, what we use to fill the spiritual void, but it never works correctly.  It never satisfies, leaving us on a continual search for spiritual satisfaction.

This constant search for spiritual satisfaction isn't relegated to the non Christian.  Even if you've known the Lord all your life, if you are not constantly feeding your soul with the Lord and His Word, then you are slowly starving your spiritual life.  You may have fed it a long time ago, but have relaxed, thinking you can feed it once or twice and it would be enough to last a while.  This is not so.  You have slowly parched your soul and deprived it of satisfaction, only you can't recognize it like cotton mouth.  If you feel your life is just not fulfilled right now, then there is a deep need you are not satisfying correctly.  You may be working diligently to fill the need, but your work has returned void.  You have become unsatisfied on a daily basis and have become so accustomed to living with the void, that you are almost resigned to living with a constant search.  The answer is right under your nose, much closer than you think.

The Bible says very clearly that you will be blessed if you hunger and thirst after His righteousness.  This means that if you are hungry and thirsty for a spiritual satisfaction, then it WILL be satiated.  You are hungry and thirsty, I know you are, but you have not recognized it as a hunger and thirst for His righteousness.  You have not recognized it as a hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with the Heavenly Father.  You are thirsty for more of Him and you need to recognize it as such.  The Bible says that if you search for Him with all your heart, then you will find Him.  This is like searching for food.  If you are hungry enough, you will (and have always) find something to eat.  It is time to start nourishing your soul every single day.  Start drinking the living water and become alive!

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Ps 63:1, Ps 107:9, Pr 21:21, Is 55:1, Jer 29:13, Jer 31:25, John 7:37

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