He has filled the hungry
Scripture
Commentary
If a man thinks that he is so good that he does not need the gospel, God regards him as so vile that the gospel brings no message of mercy to him until he humbles himself and repents. Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Of all the sins that can happen to us, perhaps the deadliest of all is that of not being conscious of having any sin.
Now, what becomes of these sinners, who think themselves so rich that they have no need of the good things with which God fills the hungry? The text does not simply say that they are not fed; it does not say that the door of mercy is shut in their faces; but it says that they are sent right away from mercy’s door because they have no right to stand there. Why should a man be allowed to pray when he has nothing to pray for? These rich people are sent away from mercy’s table because they do not want to feed on mercy’s fare. Why should they sit there, and uselessly occupy places where hungry ones might sit and feast? So they are sent away.
A message which came to your soul with quickening power was this, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” You were hungry then, so your Lord filled you with good things.
Give me hungry dogs to hunt with, and give me really hungry workers to work with for the Lord Jesus Christ; I mean, men and women who are dissatisfied with the present spiritual condition of the nominal Christian Church, dissatisfied with the progress that is being made, earnestly longing for something better, determinately set on doing something that shall be for God’s glory, and the good of the people, crying and sighing for the conversion of souls, not satisfied with ones and twos, but wanting to see the kingdom of Christ come in all its power, and the will of God done on earth as it is done in heaven. Give me men who will not slumber although the professing Church of God slumbers, men who cannot rest because sinners do not find rest in Christ, men who have no peace because Christ has not become the sinner’s peace. Give me such men, for they will be filled with good things. A church that longs for the blessing, and will not be content without it, will get it; but, on the other hand, the “rich” church, which says, “We have got the blessing; we are doing very well; we cannot see anything in which we could improve; we preach the gospel, we have all the usual agencies, they are all conducted with propriety, and with a measure of success; everything goes on exceedingly well; on the whole, perhaps we are ahead of the rest of the churches; we ought to let well alone, and not try to get up excitement, or be seeking after what is not attainable, and attempting such great things that we are pretty sure to fail in our attempts;”—such “rich” people will be “sent empty away.”
Self-satisfaction is the death of progress. Contentment with worldly goods is a blessing; but contentment in spiritual things is a curse and a sin.
The new covenant is greeted, at its first appearance, with hymns of joyful praise.
Mary’s song of praise: 1. The climax of all the hymns of the Old, 2. the beginning of all the hymns of the New, Covenant