Hungry and Thirsty

All of us experience hunger and thirst. The intensity of these feelings varies at different times and in different people. Hunger and thirst are innate desires that cry out for satisfaction. People have been known to do heinous things in order to relieve their longing for food and drink. This is not to say that these physical desires are evil, they are not. God has programmed us to feel these longings for our good, so that we might seek proper nourishment. All of us would agree that, if we are of sound mind and body, when hungry, we act upon that desire to eat. When we are thirsty, we seek out fluids to replenish our bodies. Also, we would agree that if we are not able to eat and drink, we immediately miss the sustenance these activities provide but also we miss the joy that goes along with eating and drinking.

True, all of us experience longings to satisfy our physical needs for bodily sustenance. However, do we experience desires to fulfill a more important longing--- a spiritual longing to be close to the God of heaven? We might even ask, do we long to be close to God at all, or have we somehow experienced a spiritual "Metabolife" effect in our lives where we don’t feel any spiritual hunger at all. Godly men of old desired to be close to God, to ingest and imbibe fellowship with their Maker more than food or drink. Consider the following words of the Psalmist when he said…

"O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1, NKJV).

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." (Matthew 5:6)

David sought his God early for spiritual breakfast. His desire for fellowship and time with His God was intense. It was a craving that had to be satisfied. Like an animal seeking water in a dry place, David sought to be with God. He described the situation in another place as follows:

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God When shall I come and appear before God" (Psalm 42:1, NKJV)?

Are you hungry and thirsty for what is really important? As you consider your life, your existence, your purpose for living, do you feel hungry and thirsty for something but you’re not sure what it is? Is it that you haven’t found anything that really satisfies? My friend there is an answer. We will close with the words of the one who has all the answers to what really satisfies.

"I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35, NKJV).

Why not find satisfaction today by obeying the gospel of Christ (2 Thes. 1:7-9) and then by feeding upon the things of God daily. Are you hungry and thirsty?