Are You Hungry?

 

A teacher friend at school shared with me recently that she had been seeing and hearing similar messages in her personal reading, in sermons at church, and in songs in chapel. I know what she means, don’t you? “God must have a message for you” was my response, and I do believe that’s true. He brings lessons to our attention when we’re ready for them. Now here’s my recent lesson:

I have been meditating on Isaiah 55 this month. It begins, “Ho! Everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.” Here is an invitation to enjoy abundant satisfaction at no cost. Verse two asks, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” We are so prone to try to have our needs met in ways that will not work. We strive and struggle to fix our own lives. We look to people and things for comfort rather than drawing near to God.

Jesus knows that we have longings, and he is the one who can meet them. He said to the crowds on the hillside, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Hungering and thirsting after other things only creates more hunger and thirst, but seeking to know God, to partake of his righteousness, will bring lasting satisfaction.

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Pollock spoke in our Upper School chapel service. He challenged our students and faculty to seek for the living water that satisfies, calling our attention to John 4 and Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman: “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” This woman had spent her life in one relationship after another, but she was not fulfilled because she hadn’t come to the living water.

How many times have I myself just turned up the music or grabbed a bag of chips to fill an emptiness that only God and his word can fill? These things can be satisfying for a short time, but they will not last (except the chips. I’ll carry those on my body for a while.) Hear God’s alternative: “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:2). The abundance God gives will feed my soul, and that’s food that will sustain me into the future.

--Sherry Poff