Are You Hungry for God’s Word?
Good Morning Friends,
There are many different reasons to fast and many examples in the Bible about fasting. Some are 3 day fasts, others 21 to 40 days. We get instruction in the Bible about this pathway to the pleasant pain of hunger in the examples of people who fasted. Moses fasted before receiving the Commandments. David fasted and mourned for the life of his son conceived with Bathsheba. Elijah fasted while escaping Jezebel. Ezra fasted while mourning over the sin of the people of Israel during the Babylonian captivity. In the book of Esther, Mordecai fasted for the safety of Jews in the hopes of God averting the genocide of his people. After King Darius was tricked into signing a law that put his friend Daniel in danger he fasted. Daniel fasted and prayed for understanding of a vision. Jesus fasted in the desert during the temptation. Paul fasted after his conversion. The Church elders of Antioch fasted before sending out the first missionaries. The point of it all this fasting in scripture may be whether it helps us yearn to glorify God. With this in mind we ask today’s question. Are You Hungry for God’s Word?
Scripture: I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
Psalm 81:10 (NRSV)
For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.
Psalm 107:9 (NRSV)
Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
John 6:63 (NRSV)
All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your faithful shall bless you. They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power, to make known to all people your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing. The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 145:10-21 (NRSV)
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Psalm 63:1-3 (NRSV)
Message: A lot of people went to bed hungry last night who were not choosing to fast.
Hunger is the discomfort we have caused by a prolonged lack of food. It is to have a strong desire or craving. The Bible encourages us to fast for perhaps the simple reason that we need to remember what it is to have hunger and to be poor. Some think that the greatest problem in the church is what we have lost our hunger for God. David the writer of some of today’s scripture was a man after God’s own heart. He was hungry. Everyone should be hungry for God. Jesus fasted and though it is not commanded it is never the less expected that his disciples fast as well. Here we learn that our honor for those who hunger and our hunger for what is right and just are never to be separated. The Incarnate Word of God and the person of God are to be pulled out of our mundane daily actions and all that we eat and drink of life, as well as from the words of scripture. Our daily bread and the mercy and praise we experience are to also feed us as well as the poor. Friends, the Spirit of the Lord has been shared with us in the broken Body of Christ as a blessing so we might carry on His work feeding the poor, pitying the slaves, losing their chains, reflecting God’s justice, through us as we imitate the Word made flesh until His return. Friends, it is time we matured in the faith, staying hungry for God but also learning to share with others the feast of Jesus.
Pray we realize that God alone can satisfy our hunger. Pray we realize that we will not be hungry for God until we have tasted his goodness.
Pray we are not too easily satisfied by worldly things. Pray that the Bread from Heaven bring us into His eternal Kingdom. Pray that we realize that man cannot live by bread alone; we must feed on every Word of God. Pray that the power in the Word nourishes us….heals us and changes us. Pray that we not feed on that which is does not nourish. Pray we hunger for spirituality and justice. Pray we imitate Christ’s love. Pray we stay hungry for a life that really satisfies.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 