Ernest Smith

Over the next few conversations, I want to share some insights from a recent spiritual journey I experienced.  Here is the first post to catch you up on the conversation.

While on the 19 day, no food fast, there were many lessons that God was teaching me.  Probably the greatest lesson He was trying to not only reiterate to me, but to get me to practice at a whole new level is to…

Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 states, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Other translations say “they shall be filled.” 

Jesus makes it very clear that if we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness; for the one who is righteous; for the only one who is right and just; for the one who is the ultimate fulfiller, then we will be filled.

As I read this verse at the outset of the fast, I asked myself the question, “What do I hunger and thirst for the most in my life?”  As I processed this question, I didn’t have a definitive answer.

I hunger for popularity.  I hunger for success.  I hunger for God to use me.  I hunger for a lot of things.  Mostly, however, I hunger for food.  If I were to be completely honest, there is nothing I hunger more for than food.

Now, before you assume that I am 500 pounds overweight, let me explain.  There is nothing else in my life that causes me to stop everything and fill the hunger I have.  Although I want success and popularity and for God to use me, I wouldn’t stop everything for these to happen…at least not on a regular basis.  I hunger for food.

I bet you are similar. Most of us plan our day around food.  Most of us schedule when we are going to eat and we determine what we are going to do around those times of consumption.  I bet if you become hungry, you will stop almost anything you are doing and will seek to satisfy that hunger.  When we hunger for food, we do whatever it takes to fulfill that desire.

So fasting food is me testing my hunger and thirst.  Would I hunger and thirst for God in such a way that it would conquer my hunger for food?  Would I hunger for the presence of God more than anything else in my life?  Would I hunger for God in such a way that only He could satisfy?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (the presence of God), for they shall be satisfied.

I had to keep this truth in the forefront of my mind and heart as I fasted.  I wanted to hunger for God more than anything else, including food.

What do you hunger for? 

What can you do to hunger more for the presence of God?