Hunger and Thirst...

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
- Jesus  (Matthew 5:6)

Hunger and thirst - we have a hard time understanding what Jesus is discussing here. Sure we have felt hunger at noon and thirst when we are out mowing the yard... but we knew that just inside the doors of our homes was food and drink. Maybe you have fasted for a day or two, maybe more, but you always knew that food was waiting at the end of the fast.  So, when we say, "I'm hungry" it probably means that we haven't had food since our last meal a few hours ago. Or, when we say, "I'm thirsty" we mean that our cup is empty and we need a refill. That is not the picture here.

Jesus is making a comparison that his listeners could understand. They knew hunger. They understood thirst. Now he connected those feelings with the desire for righteousness. When we are thirsty, we "need" a drink! When our stomachs are growling, only food will provide satisfaction. He tells them (and us), "you want to happy, you want God's blessing, you want to be satisfied... have the same desire for living rightly as you do for food or drink".

The Old Testament is full of such imagery...

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1,2)

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. (Is 55:1,2)

So, what does Jesus mean by "righteousness" (dikaiosune)? The word is used for justice, moral uprightness or right-standing before God. Jesus is calling us to live with the essential desire for these things. Certainly all of us, on the right occasion seek justice. When we are confronted with something morally wrong, we might speak out against it. And, every now and then we might focus our lives on right-living. But, Jesus calls His followers to a daily, no that doesn't cover it... He calls his disciples to lives that demonstrate those things as the core of who they are. If we are to be His people, we must passionately seek those things! We must crave them!

What's the outcome of a life lived that way? Satisfaction. You want a life filled with satisfaction? Live with at hunger for righteousness. Live with a thirst for justice. Crave right-living. Jesus says that when we live like that, our desires will be satisfied; God will meet the need. In John 6, Jesus puts it like this... Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. The only true solution to our deep hunger and thirst is the Christ. We try to fill that void with things or people, but that will never work. Righteousness is not a supplement, it is a necessity!

Are you starving? Are you bone-dry? You don't go to the desert to find food and water! Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well...  "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14) Anything other than life in Him will leave you thirsty. He is able to meet all of our needs. Satisfaction is guaranteed!

Casting Crowns did a little song called "The Well". Maybe your life has been filled with failure. Maybe your search for satisfaction has left you thirsty and hungry. Check out their song and let me know what you think. Leave it all behind and come to the well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0k