The Hungry & Thirsty

What Happens When You’re Hungry

Matthew 5:6 ESV

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The words “hunger and thirst” paint a picture of intense longings people desire to satisfy.

As babies, we cried, and as adults, we may get irritable or, as we say, hangry. When we’re desperately hungry, it occupies our thoughts, shapes our vision, and gives rise to our ambitions.

‌Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Experience God in Three Ways

1. The desire to be righteous—to be right with God.

‌

2. The desire to do what is right—to do obey God’s commands.

3. The desire to see right done—to help bring about God’s will in the world.

Hunger Shapes Our Identity

Physicians often say, “We are what we eat,” The same principle is true in the spiritual realm.

If we hunger for selfish gain, we will have a diet of duplicity, materialism, and infidelity.

We’re like food addicts who eat an entire bag of Doritos and then move on to the tub of Breyers ice cream. That’s precisely how we slide from moral compromise into deeper patterns of self-destruction, including greed, lust, and envy, among other sins.

Proverbs 6:16–19 ESV

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Hunger is a Blessing

Jesus said that He is the only one who can satisfy our hunger.

John 6:35 ESV

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.

If disciples know their sin and weakness, mourn for it, and live humbly because of it, they will ask God to meet their need for righteousness.

I have heard it said that “Hunger and thirst” is a dead metaphor for a prosperous land. Water is plentiful, and we experience excess food, not a deficit. In ancient Israel, water was scarce, and food was in modest supply, suggesting a time of deprivation. So as hikers long for water after a long, hot journey, true disciples will be thirsty, desperate, and longing for righteousness.‌

“To the hungry man, Christ is very lovely when He has a loaf of bread in His Hand.” - C.H. Spurgeon.

“You have made us for yourself, and our gut will rumble until we feed on you.”- Augustine.

The Thirsty

The water Jesus provides is a figurative way of speaking of repentance from sin and the infilling of the Holy Ghost.

John 4:13–14 ESV

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.”

We cannot live without water. Living water is clean and fresh and not stagnant or stale. Living water tastes good and brings refreshing relief, renewing our efforts with joy and gratitude.

As the Deer

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 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?

Godly Character Requires Total Discipleship and Complete Obedience

Proverbs 11:3 ESV

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

If you have an intense longing for righteousness, you are blessed.

The hungry ones are so filled with God that the person entirely does God’s will without tripping up, sinning, making mistakes, and disappointing God.

‌God’s blessing is not for those who win the race. It’s not for spiritual champions who have arrived. Instead, it’s for those who simply hunger and thirst—who recognize their need and desire righteousness, even if they have a long way to go.

It’s not for the one who attains righteousness but longs for it.

To long for righteousness is to refuse to be satisfied by anything less than God.

“The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists…It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one’s spiritual attainments… God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people.” - Smith Wigglesworth.

The Mystery

Ephesians 1:9 ESV

making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

We can be simultaneously hungry and satisfied. In Christ, we are both famished and full.

“The Christian is one who at the same time is hungering and thirsting, yet he is filled. And the more he is filled, the more he hungers and thirsts.” - Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Treasures in Heaven

Matthew 6:19–20 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

One commentator said this text, “means to refuse to be satisfied with anything less than God, and this in itself is a fitting definition of the justice that orders the relationship between the Creator and the creature.”

Calvin was convinced that “we dream neither of a faith devoid of good works nor of a justification that stands without them.”

R. Kent Hughes describes righteousness as “a pattern of conformity to God’s will.”

Don’t Eat the Counterfeit Bread

We must reject the cotton candy righteousness of consumerism and contemporary culture’s images, styles, and behaviors that only validate our self-worth.

We must reject the version of righteousness made by popular Christianity, along with hyper-grace, which promises unlimited health, wealth, and influence.

Romans 9:13 ESV

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

If you eat the counterfeit bread, it will leave you perminately hungry. Instead, seek the true bread, which is Jesus Christ. And you will never be hungry again!

‌Taste & See

Psalm 34:8 ESV

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!