May 20, 2017

Hunger

It is more than chemistry—calories in, calories burned, calories stored.
It is more than a process of the stomach signaling the brain that the body needs fuel. The hunger for food is so upfront in life that it retains our focus while deeper hungers drive us from deeper inside us.

There is something we want from life. When we get a slice of it, the taste and texture are pleasing but soon, like the proverbial cake which refuses to be eaten and possessed simultaneously, it is gone and the hunger remains, stronger even for the sweetness of the recent experience.

King Solomon and Mick Jagger
3000 years ago King Solomon expressed the hunger of his soul: “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.” The word translated “vanity” means trying to eat the wind. There is no wind made on earth that can satisfy hunger. 50 years ago Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were just as poetic. “I can’t get no satisfaction.”

In the most immediate sense the tragedy of hunger in the nations of the world calls for those of us whose only hungers are spiritual in nature to share our abundance with their lack. God has blessed us now we must be his hands breaking bread and fish to feed this multitude.

The Hungry Heart
Back in our own kitchens with cupboards, mimicking us–bulging with excess, we must attend to these deeper hungers. Jesus said that people speak in their words and deeds actions springing from what is in their hearts.

• If there is emptiness in our hearts it will speak.
• If there are drives, hungers for inanimate morsels like recognition, affirmation, affection, attention, and power, hidden in our hearts, these things will prompt our words, propel our choices, and power our deeds.
• Other people will become the means to the end of satisfying our hunger.

These inner hungers are in us because of the sins we have done and/or the sins done to us.

• They are the stuff of Calvary.
• They are susceptible to the cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus.
• They are fuel for the Refiner’s Fire.

They are not a life sentence.

Righteousness
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus invited us to enjoy another hunger—to hunger and thirst for righteousness. This invitation to dine at the Lord’s Table comes with a promise—You will be filled! Satisfied! Not a meal made of air, but a feast of real soul food that strengths the body, new spiritual wine that gladdens the heart, and the very Bread of Life! Here is the life sentence—hunger for God and you shall be filled—no longer driven by unnamed passions and hidden fears—but free to drink of the Waters of Life freely and to feast at the Table of the Lord.

Hunger is, indeed, more than chemistry.

Scriptures:
Matthew 5:6 NIV
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
John 6:35-36 NIV
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NIV
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Revelation 19:9 NIV
Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
John 21:12
Jes:us saith unto them, Come and dine.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I long to feast at Your Table today! I want to drink deeply from the cup or Your life, poured out for me. I want to consume Your substance today, the Words of life, the example of how to live this life, and the all-giving love, unsurpassed by any other. I hunger for You, Lord! Fill me! Fill me! Fill me! Amen.

Song:
Come and Dine
Words and Music: C.B. Widmyer

1. Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed,
He invites His chosen People come and dine.
With His manna He doth feed and supplieth every need;
O, ‘Tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time!

Refrain:
“Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine;”
You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time.
He Who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,
To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine!”

2. The disciples came to land, Thus obeying Christ’s command,
For the Master called to them, “O Come and dine;”
There they found their heart’s desire, Bread and fish upon the fire;
Thus He satisfies the hungry every time!

Refrain

3. Soon the Lamb will take His bride to be ever at His side,
All the hosts of heaven will assembled be.
O, ‘Twill be a glorious sight, all the saints in spotless white,
And with Jesus they will feast eternally!

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved