HUNGER AND THIRST

Matt. 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Jn. 6:35 – And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Is. 58:11 – The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

CAUSE OF HUNGER AND THIRST –

1. Thirst - In the natural it is how our physical bodies present the need for nourishment and to prevent dehydration.

• Going thirsty w/o water causes: dehydration. After strenuous exertion, dehydration can lead to blurred vision and fatigue or life-threatening conditions such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

2. Hunger – can be mistaken for thirst. It can be a psychological as well as a biological condition.

• In the natural, food intake helps stabilize our blood-sugar levels, and fuels our brain and body with the energy needed.

• Lack of food causes body temperature to drop, blood-sugar levels to fall (causing brain-fog, physical weakness, and ‘h’-anger).

• It puts the body into a stress producing inability to cope without anger or grumpiness or inability to think clearly.

3. Hunger and Thirst in the spiritual realm causes us to suffer through lack of what we need perhaps without knowing what we need;

• our soul becomes lethargic with blurred spiritual vision;

• fatigued by “burn out” – Satan’s scheme is to “wear out the saints”

• become irritated by others rather than being full of love and good works towards them.

IDENTIFYING OUR HUNGER AND THIRST

1. Thirst for milk and water – The Word is called both

I Pet. 2:1-3 – Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby; if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

• Symptoms of thirst: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, wrong speaking.

• Solution: DRINK – desire the pure milk of the word – it starts with Jesus; Babies drink often!

• Milk, for a baby, contains everything necessary to grow

• Tasting His graciousness creates more thirst in us. His graciousness is His goodness to us.

• He convicts our hearts without condemning us (I John 3:20)

• This is first love – knowing He loves us without criticism; so we can love others in the same way.

2. Stages of Growth

• I Cor. 3:1-3 – And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? – Babies tend to engage in envy, strife, divisions, wrong speaking….

• Gal. 4:1-3 – Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. – Children need tutors/teachers because they need to learn to gain understanding.

• I Cor. 14:20 – Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. – Children must grow into maturity, able to tend to themselves in all areas as well as able to help others.

• Heb. 5:12-14 – For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

o The mature are skilled in the Word, able to teach others, use their abilities reasonably, and are discerning between what is beneficial and what is harmful or worthless.

3. What should we hunger and thirst for?

• Righteousness (Mt. 5:6) – to have a character reflecting the redemptive work of Jesus; we should be a valuable asset to Him in His kingdom.

• His Timing (Ps. 61:2-3) – Truly my soul waits silently for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

• Word of the Lord (Am. 8:11) – Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord… - Going too long a time without food or water will naturally create a hunger and thirst to the point of searching for them. This is true of a lack of bread and water from Jesus.

4. Nourishment and Hydration promote growth!

• Is. 12:2-6 – Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day, you will say, “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.”

• Ps. 107:9 – For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

• Is. 55:1-3 – Ho! Everyone who thirst, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

• Is. 58:11 – The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

o We don’t need to be concerned about spiritual drought around us.

o We have Jesus inside of us, the Fountain of Living waters! The Bread of Life!

• Jn. 4:14 – Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.