The Blessing of a Hungry Heart
Matthew 5:6
February 26, 1995
J. David Hoke
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
satisfied." Matthew 5:6 (NASB)
A unanimous declaration of the thirteen united States of America was passed on July 4,
1776. We know this document as the Declaration of Independence. The second
sentence of this document reads: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I have
always been intrigued by this phrase "the pursuit of Happiness." Indeed, our
entire culture seems to be taken with the idea that the pursuit of happiness is and should
be the main goal of every person. And we go at it with abandon. But do we every really
attain it?
Most people I have known, who have given their lives to a pursuit of happiness, have
never really attained what they would call true happiness. Perhaps it all hinges on how we
define the word. Or perhaps the things we thought would make us happy are not the things
which make people happy. What would it take to make us happy? What would it take to make
us truly satisfied?
Are you satisfied with your life, your marriage, your work, your relationships with
others, your relationship with God? What have you been doing to improve your level of
satisfaction? Is there anything you can do that will make a difference?
Along with this problem of a pervasive lack of happiness in our culture, I see another
insidious problem that may in fact be a causative agent in our lack of happiness. Franky
Schaeffer identified this problem in his book Addicted to Mediocrity. One
the problems we face is that we have been willing to settle for less. We have lost our
passion. In so many areas, there is no longer a powerful desire for excellence. This has
been a problem, at least in our country, for many years.
We also see this problem in the church. All too often we have been willing to settle
for less in our spiritual lives than what God desires for us. Perhaps it is because we
live without persecution in a country where we enjoy religious freedom. That very freedom
often causes people to take for granted things which should be held as very precious. It
can cause people to take lightly their Christian commitment. It fosters a casual
Christianity, one in which we serve only at our convenience.
Perhaps we need to consider that our search for happiness or satisfaction has been
misguided. It could be that we have been seeking the wrong object. The reason why the
things we have sought have not made us happy is because they cannot make us
happy. Things do not satisfy, only God satisfies. It has been said that
within every human being is a "God shaped blank" and we are never satisfied
until we are filled with God.
Jesus said it this way: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Perhaps the reason we are not
satisfied is because we have lost our passion for God.
When Jesus uses the words hunger and thirst, He is speaking of real
hunger and thirst. Most of us have a very hard time identifying with what Jesus intended
to communicate. We have never really experienced true hunger or true thirst. Jesus was
speaking of starvation and the intense hunger which it brings. Generally, when we say that
we are hungry, we mean that it has been several hours since we last ate. But this is not
hunger. The kind of hunger of which Jesus spoke could not be satisfied by a mid-morning
snack. The kind of thirst of which He spoke could not be quenched by a brief trip to the
water cooler. He was speaking of people who are in desperate and dire circumstances, like
those who are suffering from famine.
There have been famines throughout history. In 436 BC, Rome experienced a famine so
severe that thousands threw themselves into the Tiber River. They desired to drown rather
than starve to death. Severe famine struck England in 1005 AD. Great famines enveloped
Europe in 879, 1016, and 1162. We have seen famines spread throughout the third world
countries where tens of millions have died of starvation.
We have never experienced starvation. I would suppose, however, that a starving person
has only one desire. That person is possessed by a single, all-consuming passion. Only
food and water has the slightest attraction or appeal to that person. Nothing else is
important. Nothing else has even the slightest appeal.
Could it be that what Jesus is saying is that until we come to the place where we have
such a single-mindedness in our passion for God that we will never experience true
satisfaction? As a matter of fact, that is precisely what I think He is saying! The
question to you then becomes: "Do you have a passion for God?" Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? Is this your desire? Is this what you want above
all else? Are you starving for God? You will find nothing else which will satisfy that
hunger. In Isaiah 55:2, God asks, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and
your wages for what is does not satisfy?"
Only God satisfies. So, we need to come to the place where we are hungry for God. We
must desire Him so passionately that our desire causes us to do something about it.
Nothing less than that passion will cause us to act properly. When Prodigal Son was hungry
he turned to the husks that he was feeding the pigs. When he was starving he turned to his
father.
What brings us to this place of passionate hunger for God? Many things can. A true
realization of our own sinful condition can cause us to desire release through the power
of God. When we are suffering, we may look to God for help. If tragic events overtake us,
God may be the One to whom we turn. Whatever the means God uses, He desires to bring us to
the place where we come to the end of ourselves. This is where we must be in order to
discover a real hunger for God.
Coming to the end of ourselves brings us to a place of desperation. And in our
desperation, after we have exhausted all other possibilities, we turn to God as the only
hope for our lives.
Are you there? Have you come to the place where you are ready to allow God to have His
way in your life? Many things can hinder you. A mistaken idea of your own self-sufficiency
can hinder you. Many people wrongly believe that they need nothing else outside of
themselves to be happy. You may believe this until the time when you are sitting all
alone, face to face with who you are, feeling inadequate and powerless. Don't trust in
your own self-sufficiency. It will always let you down.
Others are hindered by a blindness to their spiritual condition. Thinking that somehow
they will be considered good enough, they go on their way, never giving God a thought,
unaware of the certain judgment which will follow this life. We must see that we are truly
sinful people in need of a Savior to take away our sin. Don't be deceived into thinking
that you do not have to deal with your sin. It will keep you from God.
Others are not hungry of heart because they are hard of heart. Allowing sin to control
their lives, they develop a hard shell around their hearts which is impenetrable. A hard
heart will certainly keep you from God.
While it is so tragic to see people who do not know God blithely turning their backs on
Him, I am utterly amazed to see people who have tasted His goodness do so. Those of us who
are Christians and who have experienced the goodness of God through His forgiveness of our
sins ought to be people whose lives have been marked by passion for God. Yet many are not.
How can this be?
Moses knew the Lord. We read in Exodus 33:11, "Thus the Lord used to speak to
Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend." But Moses wanted to know
more of God. He says in Exodus 33:13, "Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found
favor in thy sight, let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee . . ." Moses had a
hunger for God, for His righteousness, and to know His ways. He cried out, "that I
may know Thee." This sounds very much like the apostle Paul. He cried out in
Philippians 3:10, "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." Both Paul and Moses
desired to really know God. They already knew Him in a very deep sense. But what they
meant was that they wanted to know Him more intimately, personally, and powerfully. They
had a hunger for God. They had a passion for Him.
Moses was so intent on remaining in God's favor and presence that he said to God in
Exodus 33:15, "If Thy presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from
here." Moses knew the source of his strength.
Listen to David in Psalm 63: "O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly;
My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is
no water. Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, To see Thy power and Thy glory.
Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee. So I will bless
Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul is satisfied as with
marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember Thee on
my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches, For Thou hast been my help, And in the
shadow of Thy wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to Thee; Thy right hand upholds
me." (Psalm 63:1-8 NASB)
When I read responses like these from people who have tasted of the goodness of God, I
am utterly amazed when I see Christians who apparently have little or no passion for God.
I say "apparently" because it is hard to know what is really in a person's heart
from what is going on outwardly. We must be very careful not to judge people simply by
what we see. But when I see people who apparently have no passion for God my heart is
grieved. I am speaking of people who have no desire to read God's word, who only
participate when it is convenient for them, who make no sacrifices for Christ, who do not
take seriously God's command to contribute a tithe of their income to His work, who only
go through the motions of worship and never really enter in to worship. These are truly
marks of having a passion for God, and when they are absent I think we can only conclude
that we do not have a passion for God.
But while my heart is grieved, I can understand it. It is so easy to lose your
spiritual passion. The Bible calls it losing your first love. In Revelation, God speaks to
the church in Ephesus and says: "I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance,
and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves
apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and
have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you,
that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and
repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your
lampstand out of its place - unless you repent." (Revelation 2:2-5 NASB)
It is possible to work hard for Christ, have an aversion to evil people, apply the
highest doctrinal test to those proclaiming false teaching, suffer for Christ without
growing weary and still have your love for Christ grow cold.
Keith Green put it this way: "My eyes are dry, my faith is old, my heart is hard,
my prayers are cold. And I know what I ought to be, alive to you and dead to me." We
have probably all experienced this in our own lives. This is not what we need. What we
need is a heart which is hungry for God. What we need is a passion restored. Keith Green
goes on to say in his song, "Oh what can be done with an old heart like mine, soften
it Lord with oil and wine. The oil is you, your Spirit of love. Come wash me anew in the
wine of your blood."
If we want to truly be satisfied, we must desire God. We must desire Him with all that
is within us. "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB) "And you will seek Me
and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13 NASB)
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be
satisfied." (Matthew 5:6 NASB)
May God give us a passion for Him. May he light the fire of our first love and cause
our hearts to be hungry and thirsty for His righteousness. May He create within us such a
spiritual desire for Him that we will not be satisfied with less, but will press in to
God.
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