hungry and thirsty

Opening Prayer: It is you, O God, that I really want.  It is you that my soul hungers and thirsts for.  So please keep me from chasing after fullness apart from you, for it can never happen.  Make me hungry and thirsty, instead, for righteousness.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 5:6

Journal: What are you hungry and thirsty for these days?  What is at the core of that hunger and thirst?  How is that really just a hunger and thirst for God?  What does it look like to hunger and thirst for righteousness?  

Reflection: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)  Okay, let’s face it, we are all hungry and thirsty.  The only question is how we will go about trying to fill that hunger or thirst.  Which then begs another question, what do I really believe I am hungry and thirsty for?  Or, to put it another way, what do I really believe will satisfy the deepest longings of my heart and soul?  For that is what I will pursue. 

     Jesus talked a lot about hunger and thirst, but he was always very clear that we don’t hunger and thirst for just anything, ultimately our hunger and our thirst are for God.  That’s why he uses the word “righteousness” in the Beatitudes.  Righteousness is when every, including us, is as it was intended to be.  And that can only happen in right relation to God.

     “If you want to be filled,” Jesus says, “then you must hunger and thirst after righteousness.”  And God is the only one who is truly righteous, so fullness only comes through hungering and thirsting after him.  David knew that truth as well.  “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My souls is thirsts for God, the living God,” say the words of his ancient prayer. (Psalm 42:1-2)   

     The truth is that other things and other people simply cannot fill us the way God designed us to be filled.  They can consume us, but they cannot fill us.  As a matter of fact, when we consume things and people in search of fullness, in the end they end up consuming us instead.  Which leaves us exhausted, empty, and frustrated.

     So why on earth would we keep pursuing those people and those things, when God offers us the fullness we most deeply long for?  Let us hunger and thirst for him instead, that we may be filled.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My souls is thirsts for God, the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?  Right now, O Lord, right now.  Help me turn to you this day and be filled with your life and your love and your righteousness.  Amen.