02 Aug Who Are You Hungry For?

Andy Griffith asked, “What are you hungry for when you don’t know what you’re hungry for. The answer, of course, was Ritz Crackers. I was reminded of that campaign after watching an Instagram video by Pastor Brian Trent. He asked viewers if they struggled reading the Bible, did they see it as a tedious chore, rather than the joy-filled gift it is. He then shared Jeremiah 15:16:

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty. Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV)

What if you hungered for Jesus and God’s Word as you hunger for your favorite food? Mine is corn on the cob. I consider it the greatest blessing of a Wisconsin summer. If you love corn on the cob as much as I do, consider this:

If it’s not corn on the cob, picture your favorite food. Think of how good it would taste right now. When you hunger for Jesus, you can feast on His Word. Do you look forward to reading the Bible the way you look forward to savoring your favorite food? The Bible uses food imagery repeatedly to make that point.

3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)

Which Jesus quotes in Matthew:

3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:3-4 (NIV)

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven.  John 6:53-58 (NIV)

As Brian Trent put it, the point is to chew slowly and savor God’s Word, not wolf it down out of obligation with daily devotionals and Bible-in-a-year plans. Or as I read elsewhere: “stop and chew on it: ” Those practices are vital, but should be the result of your desire for more Jesus to love.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

When we see God’s word as spiritual food, everything changes. We will feel nourished, enriched and desiring more, and more, and more. Who are you hungry for?

Pastor Jerry Bader