Friday, June 17, 2016

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?Psalm 42:1

As you work through today’s devotion, ask God to make you more deeply aware of your thirst for him – for his presence, for his love, for his voice and for his truth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:6, 8

When was the last time you were really hungry, or really thirsty? If I’m honest, I am rarely, if ever, truly hungry or thirsty. I live most of my life, as I suspect you do as well, just a few feet or minutes from all I could want to eat or drink. Before we can understand what Jesus is saying here we have to understand that those of us who live in North America in the 21st century simply do not live like most of the rest of the world lives – or has ever lived. 

The average person in Jesus’ day might only eat meat once a week, and had to draw water almost daily from a local well in order to have drinking water. In much of the world today, it is the responsibility of women and children to walk sometimes a mile or more each way – to carry jugs of water back to their homes for their daily needs. In such an environment, hunger and thirst take on a much more urgent meaning than they often do for us! To be hungry means to ache for food and nourishment with all that you are. To be thirsty means to long for water as for life itself – because, indeed, without it you would perish.

Hunger and thirst, then, are among the most powerful motivating forces in all of human experience. This is why modern coaches tell athletes to be “hungry” for victory; and why advertising campaigns urge people to “obey your thirst.” 

Jesus is saying that we will be filled with what we are hungry and thirsty for. If we are hungry and thirsty for what the world defines as success – money, status, popularity – then that’s what will fill our hearts and minds. If, on the other hand, we are hungry and thirsty for God – then he will fill us with himself and his righteousness.

Years ago rock star Bruce Springsteen wrote a song entitled, “Everybody’s got a Hungry Heart.” I think Jesus would agree! The question is what are we hungry for? Ask God to cause your heart to hunger and thirst for him over everything else!

Brian Coffey