BLESSED ARE THE HUNGRY AND THIRSTY “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” Psalm 107:9 We find the child of God sometimes set forth under the character of the hungry. Is this hunger pleasure; is it honor, promotion, respectability? Oh no, these toys and baubles cannot satisfy the spiritual hunger of a living soul. They cannot hunger after that on which they cannot feel. They hunger then after righteousness, as the Lord said, “Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” They hunger after God Himself in His blessed manifestations, after the bread of life, which came down from heaven, that a man should eat thereof and not die. Christ in the letter of the word (the mere print of the Bible) cannot satisfy their keen appetite. They must feed upon Him internally, or their famine continues. To these hungry souls, to have Christ in the letter is like a starving beggar standing outside a shop where there are plenty of provisions, and not having a penny to buy with. What is Christ in the letter of the Word? Will a sight of Christ in the word of God remove the burden of guilt, bring peace into the soul, purge the conscience or subdue the power of sin? Will the mere doctrine of Christ draw up the affections to Him, cast out the world, dethrone self, or purify the heart? No! We say by painful experience, not one jot, nor one tittle. But the presence of Christ in the soul can at once do all these things. Thus Christ coming into one’s heart as the hope of glory can only satisfy a hungry, famishing soul. In John 4 we break into a conversation between Jesus and a woman of Samaria. “There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Is this thirst and hunger for Christ in your soul? If so the promise is to you. “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon the seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Isa.44:3). He invites the thirsty soul saying, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” During this Thanksgiving Season I rejoice with those who recognize the many blessings of life, more in number than the sands of the sea; and I will have my physical hunger filled with much delicious foods. But more than these I will rejoice that He satisfies my hungry soul and fills it with His goodness.
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