12 May Humble Hunger

I am a big fan of the streaming series “The Chosen.” It chronicles the ministry of Jesus Christ, as portrayed by actor Jonathan Roumie. In an episode focusing on Jesus’ feeding of more than 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, Jesus says “I do let people go hungry. But then, I feed them.” Some critics of the show believe it takes too much literary license with the Gospel. I recently learned that these words, more or less, are in the Bible. It comes as Moses is preparing the Israelities to enter the Promised Land that he will not live to see:

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 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.(Emphasis mine)  4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Deuteronomy 8:1-5 (NIV).

Among the meanings for the word used for humble and humbled , ʽānâ, are “afflicted,” “oppressed,” and “to be denied.” We can often wonder why God lets us “go hungry” God never wants us to forget that we are dependent on Him for everything. This isn’t God being a heartless tyrant. This is God making us aware that He offers more than we can possibly understand. God’s grace is infinite. It covers every need and every sin. He wants us to remember that.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

Paul’s words to believers in Ephesus are powerful. God can do more for us than we are even capable of asking. So, our problem isn’t that we expect too much of God. It’s that we don’t expect enough. We pray to God as though He were a cosmic bellhop or waiter taking our order. We ask Him to provide for the tiny little “kingdom of me,” instead of surrendering all to Him and enjoy the benefits of citizenship in His Kingdom.

When we do that, God will let us go hungry to help us remember how much of Him we are missing. And we can live in the blessed assurance that when we do, He will feed us!