Hunger and Thirst

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 KJV

“I’m hungry”; “I’m thirsty.” I think these two phrases are likely the two most common phrases heard by mothers of toddlers and mothers of teenagers. (This has been my experience in any case.) It’s like an unsatiable hunger and thirst. They’re hungry all.the.time. Seriously.

We can be like that.

Sometimes, it’s like we have this insatiable hunger and thirst inside. No, I actually think we do, in fact, I think of it as a God-shaped void. We try to satisfy the need with all sorts of things that will never quench the emptiness we feel. We try to fill it with food, hello gluttony and extra pounds. We try to fill it with relationships and/or one night stands, hello abandonment and low self-esteem. We try to fill it with music, hobbies, any and everything else that we think will satisfy the hunger and thirst inside us. Only to discover, at the end of the day that we are not satisfied.

There are times that we may take a glimpse at others and assume that they have it all. We look at the exterior and it may appear that they have the family, the car(s), fortune, the fame… But, without Jesus, it doesn’t mean anything. Some people try, and fail, their entire lives to fill the emptiness inside. They try to scale the mountaintop!

I did.

That was me.

I wanted to, initially, prove to everyone else, then prove to me, that I wasn’t what they said about me. I was more. The higher I climbed, the higher I needed to climb. Because, even at my best I discovered that I was still hungry. I was still thirsty. I needed more. There was something inside of me that seemed to cry out from the depths of my innermost being, I’m hungry! And it needed to be filled. Only the temporal nature of the things of this world could never satisfy the longing deep inside.

I think of the woman at the well…

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. John 4:13-15 KJV For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. John 4:18 KJV

She was empty, trying to satisfy that emptiness with one failed relationship after another. The most admirable thing about her, to me, is that when offered a drink from the water that Jesus gives – that life giving water – she didn’t hesitate! She jumped at the opportunity. She wanted it, NOW! Jesus said, that they who hunger and thirst after righteousness would be filled. She didn’t leave it at a simple desire. She went and told others.

Sometimes, I have to pause and ask myself, Are you even hungry? No, I’m not talking about a physical hunger; not for the things of this world. I’m talking about for the things of God, for His righteousness. I have to remind myself sometimes, when I lose focus, that only Jesus can satisfy my soul.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35 KJV

*Original Image by Yours Truly