Today was one of those rare days that were so filled with things to do, meetings to attend, and travel, that I lost the contact I usually have with sources for food.
The result, come evening, I was hungry, very much so.
I thought of Deuteronomy 8:3 where the Lord speaks of permitting ancient Israel to discover what hunger means: "[The Lord] humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger ..."
But not to torture them, but "to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart" (vs. 2).
"He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not ... that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." We can learn:
(a) Being hungry is a blessing once in a while, if we can learn something helpful from the experience.
(b) The experience of being hungry for temporal food can teach us the blessing of being hungry for spiritual food.
(c) The Lord Jesus Himself has forever glorified the experience of going hungry [for a time!]. In the most wonderful sermon ever preached, He said, "Blessed [happy] are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
(d) The meaning is clear: the only ones who will ever be "filled" are those who "hunger and thirst."
(e) Therefore, we conclude that a wonderful prayer for us to learn to pray is, "Lord, make me to feel hungry!"
(f) But that's just backwards from common wisdom; but if the Lord Jesus says that such are the ones who are "blessed," we had better listen and learn.
(g) This raises the problem of fasting and prayer: but time's up. More later!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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