Describing the hunger . . .

 

Last night we attended an Ordination Council. One of our pastors, at the request of our church, submitted an “Ordination Paper” and delegates in leadership in other churches gathered to ask him questions about it. Besides the delight at hearing this young man’s truthful and humble responses, I was reminded again how important it is to be preoccupied with Jesus. This young man sees God at work and shares what he sees. Also, as a seminary professor said, “speaking what we believe cements it in our lives.”

Writing what I believe is also helpful. I’ve always journaled devotional thoughts, but when God asked me to put them online, I had no idea of how He would use it to satisfy my hunger for righteousness.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

MacArthur says righteousness means “to be right with God” and that involves a passionate, ongoing and ever-maturing relationship with Him. It starts with salvation and continues in a very real sanctification where self-righteousness is abandoned and the desire to be like Jesus increases. This culminates when I see Him face to face, yet there is great satisfaction in continually seeking Him now and in daily life.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14)

This hunger is recognizable. Today’s devotional lists several ways to know if it is happening in my life, or I’ve slipped back into being self-satisfied and content with the status quo. The first one is easy . . .

Hunger for righteousness is marked by an awareness of sin, and dissatisfaction and grief when I fall short. It means learning not to make excuses or light of it, but to seek forgiveness and cleansing. (1 John 1:7-10)

Second, this hunger is not satisfied by external things. I don’t feel right by ego-boosters, flattery, or being praised for much of anything. I want to know that Jesus is glorified. Sinful self wants glory for me.

Third, hunger for the Living Word involves hunger for the written Word. The NT says: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2) and speaks figuratively of feeding on Christ. Only Jesus can satisfy that hunger for righteousness.

Fourth, because trials are a means by which God teaches us patience and other virtues, then I will see them that way, not as desirable as a banquet, yet powerful to move me into being more like Jesus. As the devotional says, anger or resentment, even panic and fear when trouble comes all reveal that I’d rather be comfortable than righteous.

This leads to another test, if I am hungry and thirsty for Christ, nothing stands in the way. I’m not to be like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 who sensed the void in his life but keeping his possessions was more important than filling the void. Things like a desire to be popular, well-off, comfortable, any ‘do my own thing’ activity or insistence on my way, can interfere with seeking Him and His righteousness. Instead, I need to trust Him for what is necessary and to remove what He decides I do not need.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live . . . .” (Isaiah 55:1–3)

All these describe a totally yielded life. Part of the Christian journey is the discovery of things not yet yielded to Him and finding out that even though Christ will fully satisfy every longing of my heart, this hunger means a constant desire for more of His righteousness. “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:9)

Jesus, You said to the woman at the well and You say it to me; “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13–14) This proves true in my life. How amazing that You satisfy all the longings of the human heart. For that, I am grateful, and so glad that Your satisfaction does not mean that I will ever stop wanting to seek You.

MORE: Read Psalm 112 as a hymn of praise to God.

 

 

Eternal joy vs. temporary stuff

Yesterday we went to a pipe band concert that was just a little different. As with most Scottish bands, there were drummers, dancers, and a song or two, but this presentation included a nine-person jazz band that could do amazing things by combining Aretha Franklin with bagpipes. For me, a lover of jazz and bagpipes both, this was incredibly delightful.

The audience agreed; everyone was smiling, clapping, enthusiastic. What was weird is that we went to the same concert (or similar), about two years ago, but I cannot remember being there. I love pipe bands and this one (in our city’s incredible Winspear music center) offers an exceptional performance. How could I so totally forget it?

Yesterday held another fascination. Personal issues (involving people whose permission I would need to publish details) have not changed. The storms I wrote about yesterday still raged then and into today, but when God urged me to rejoice in Him, my mood changed.

The joy of the Lord is hard to describe. I sit here and just rest my mind and I can feel it bubbling inside me like an artesian well deep in the cleft of a rock. Joy is there. If I focus on the problems and storms, joy does not vanish but the sense of it is muffled by anxiety and sorrow, and I know if I remain in that mode, this joy could be overwhelmed.

However, if I think about the power of God, His sovereign purposes, and His promises to meet needs and answer prayers, joy gurgles like a happy brook, washing over stones and carrying away sorrows like leaves tossed in its flow. The joy of the Spirit is more powerful and will not quit.

My devotional reading today tells how God created us in such a way that only He can truly satisfy the needs of our hearts. Because He knows that, and I don’t (or at least I didn’t at first), He understands the importance of me being detached from fleshy and worldly pleasures. How else would I discover the grandness of His joy if I were focused on other sources?

He created me with a God-shaped void that I’ve tried to fill it with all sorts of things which, of course, do not fit. All around me I see people who are obsessed trying to make their chosen ‘things’ fill that void. These are driven people. Some are still having fun because they have not yet realized the void remains unfilled, but most are unhappy and fearful. They know something is missing, but don’t know what it is.

God is Enough says, “We must come to the end of everything that is not God in order to find our joy in God alone,” not that God is out to rob us of all things, but to help us discover that His joy is superior. The joy of other things come and go, obviously. How else would I forget the joy of that concert two years prior? Obviously it delighted me because this one did, but I do not recall that delight. It didn’t fill the void.

The joy that Jesus gives is here, inside me, not depending on what goes on out there. I never have to struggle trying to remember it. My big struggle is in trying to keep my focus on Him, the One who so freely gives it to me.

The Psalmist wrote, “Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.” (Psalm 43:2-3)

Those verses remind me that my enemy is not flesh and blood but Satan, the one Jesus called a liar and a destroyer (Ephesians 6 and John 8). Satan tells me that only this thing will make you happy, only that event will give you lasting peace and joy. When I follow his line of thinking, my focus goes off God and my faith is derailed, but when God gives light and truth, and when I respond by turning my eyes and heart toward Him, I rediscover once again that He is my exceeding joy. He fills the holes in my heart, and He is enough.