Arise, cry out in the night,
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord’s presence.
Lift up your hands to Him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
on the corner of every street.Lamentations 3:19
If we saw our children starving physically we would cry out and work exceedingly hard to meet that need. We grumble about the state of the world and how things are getting worse but do we treat this spiritual hunger that starves of hope and righteousness with the same vigor as empty stomachs? Perhaps if we did we could have fewer locks and see more positive news stories instead of reading about rape and murder. We are lulled into complacency by the slow decline from spiritual hunger pangs until violence and apathy are what we expect and right and wrong are just hollow words. We need to feed on truth and pour out justice and mercy.
Will we recognize our hunger and thirst for what they are before it is too late? Are the words of Job true of us? Can they be?
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
Job 23:12b
When is the last time you pushed back a meal and used the time instead to contemplate God’s will for your life, read a chapter of the Bible or otherwise acknowledge your Creator? I am ashamed to say I have thought physical food a necessity far too often while with little effort setting aside prayer, meditation, and the like. I do not want my Lord to be ashamed of me and I do not want Him to give me what I deserve.
Will God give us the desires of our hearts? Yes, He will. Let us then be careful to desire things that are good and lasting rather than fleeting, hollow or foul. If we treasure such things I think we shall have them but God will withdraw as has occurred in times past.
Hear this! The days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.Amos 8:11-12
For God to allow us our lesser desires fulfilled, He must withdraw for in His holiness he would destroy us. God is pure, dwelling in unapproachable light and we have made Him small in our minds and far from our hearts. We fear physical hunger–anyone who has been truly hungry has and knows–but there is no need if we know our Creator. Only in trying to dethrone God should we be afraid for He is King and Lord and there is none other.
If you are going to fear, if you are going to dedicate long hours to contemplation, if you are going to endure for a cause then fear for an eternity absent the warm embrace of your Creator, contemplate how you might spur on your friends, children, spouse and co-workers toward devotion to Jesus Christ and endure any and all criticism of your zeal in seeking the LORD and sharing His love and warnings of coming judgement on the unrepentant.
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” Jesus told them.
John 4:34
Can you give up a physical meal, not to give the money to the poor or lose a pound or anything else, except, to stave off a spiritual famine that will leave you staggering, hollow-eyed from place to place helpless and hopeless. A physical fast is just a chance to recognize that you have been spiritually malnourished, filling yourself with air and artificial colors but no substance. Reach out today. Taste and see that the LORD is good.
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