Thirst And Hunger In The Bible
What do you want? What do you long to have, in your life?
Well, it’s a profound question that’s not so easily answered. In fact the answer could change by the week, day, hour, minute, it can change, and does change all the time.
The Bible uses more poetic terms…
Anyone know what the bible calls it when we really want something? hunger and thirst
SO what do we hunger and thirst for? What do we long for?
What do you all hunger and thirst for?
Food, money, new clothes, cars, full tank of gas.
Boyfriend, girlfriend…satisfaction
I think we all just want satisfaction in our lives…am I right? And we see these things as a means to that end…if I could only have that car, I would be happy…If I could just have that guy as a boyfriend …show more content…
my life would be great…if could have that new pair of shoes, and life would be good.
Then we get the car, and it breaks down, the guy turns out to be a jerk, the shoes give you blisters…Or maybe the car runs great, the guy is a prince, and the shoes, well you feel like your walking on a cloud…but you know what…you’re still not satisfied you’re still hungry.
Maybe you think…money, that will do it. So you get a job, save up some money and… nothing….
You all know the story of the prodigal son?
Lets turn to Luke 15:11-16 (NIV)
So here we have this guy…and he thinks he has the answer…if I just had my inheritance, I could go and live how I want, do what I want, and I would be happy, I would be satisfied…and what happens? he hires himself out to feed the pigs…
Anyone here work or live on a pig farm?
I know some people that do, and they probably don’t think it’s that bad, but for a Jew, this is hitting rock bottom.
By Jewish law, pigs were unclean animals…and he was not only working with them, but he longed to eat out of their trough. He had hit the bottom. And the bottom, is both a horrible and wonderful place to be…things tend to become clear from the bottom…
This may sound terrible but I’ve prayed for people to hit bottom…that kinda sounds mean, but from the bottom, you come to realize that…“wow, this thing hasn’t satisfied me, it hasn’t filled me…this thing can’t, it won’t, it never will…there has got to be more.” And some people have to hit bottom to realize that…
I love the next vs. in Luke
17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
When he came to his senses…if he never would’ve hit the bottom, it is possible that he would have never come to his senses…
Where am I going with this…I don’t know, only that he was not satisfied…
How many of you have Ecclesiastes?
Solomon the richest, wisest king is on a quest for purpose, for satisfaction…he tried money, and ambition, and women, and building things, and drunkenness, and all these things, and came to the conclusion, …show more content…
that…what…
Vanity, vanity, (meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless)
Nothing that he found could fill him, nothing could satisfy him…
Blaise Pascal once said that everyone has this “God-shaped void” in our lives
And at one time or another we all try to fill this void with the things of this world…things that will never fill the void.
Rom 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
This is exactly what we do…maybe not images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
By the way does anyone know what that is called? Idolatry
Anything we put in the place of God…money, sex, relationships, even religious works…
Its all idolatry…
Jeremiah 2:11- 13
11b But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Why do we drink from cisterns that cannot hold water? Why do we lust after the things of this world that can never, will never satisfy?
why do we do it…
C.S. Lewis wrote:
We are half hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased.
You get it…I think I’ve beat this horse enough, we will just never be satisfied, if we look for fulfillment in the things of this world…but that doesn’t mean we can never be satisfied…
Lets never forget that infinite joy is offered to us…we can be fulfilled…we can be satisfied…
Jesus said
Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be? filled
One more thing…
All these that we try to find happiness in, all these things take a lot of work…you’ve gotta work to get money, work to get that car, or be in that relationship, or buy those new shoes…we spend a lot of money and a lot of time on the things that never satisfy…but…well this is how Isaiah put it…
Isaiah 55:1-2
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is
good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Why do we spend money on that which is not bread, why do labor, for that which does not satisfy…when the richest of fair, the only thing that satisfies, the one that fills us is entirely free to us…and that’s life in Christ Jesus. Amen?
Let me end on this vs
Rom. 3:22 through Rom. 3:24 (NIV) 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus
Well, it’s a profound question that’s not so easily answered. In fact the answer could change by the week, day, hour, minute, it can change, and does change all the time.
The Bible uses more poetic terms…
Anyone know what the bible calls it when we really want something? hunger and thirst
SO what do we hunger and thirst for? What do we long for?
What do you all hunger and thirst for?
Food, money, new clothes, cars, full tank of gas.
Boyfriend, girlfriend…satisfaction
I think we all just want satisfaction in our lives…am I right? And we see these things as a means to that end…if I could only have that car, I would be happy…If I could just have that guy as a boyfriend …show more content…
my life would be great…if could have that new pair of shoes, and life would be good.
Then we get the car, and it breaks down, the guy turns out to be a jerk, the shoes give you blisters…Or maybe the car runs great, the guy is a prince, and the shoes, well you feel like your walking on a cloud…but you know what…you’re still not satisfied you’re still hungry.
Maybe you think…money, that will do it. So you get a job, save up some money and… nothing….
You all know the story of the prodigal son?
Lets turn to Luke 15:11-16 (NIV)
So here we have this guy…and he thinks he has the answer…if I just had my inheritance, I could go and live how I want, do what I want, and I would be happy, I would be satisfied…and what happens? he hires himself out to feed the pigs…
Anyone here work or live on a pig farm?
I know some people that do, and they probably don’t think it’s that bad, but for a Jew, this is hitting rock bottom.
By Jewish law, pigs were unclean animals…and he was not only working with them, but he longed to eat out of their trough. He had hit the bottom. And the bottom, is both a horrible and wonderful place to be…things tend to become clear from the bottom…
This may sound terrible but I’ve prayed for people to hit bottom…that kinda sounds mean, but from the bottom, you come to realize that…“wow, this thing hasn’t satisfied me, it hasn’t filled me…this thing can’t, it won’t, it never will…there has got to be more.” And some people have to hit bottom to realize that…
I love the next vs. in Luke
17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
When he came to his senses…if he never would’ve hit the bottom, it is possible that he would have never come to his senses…
Where am I going with this…I don’t know, only that he was not satisfied…
How many of you have Ecclesiastes?
Solomon the richest, wisest king is on a quest for purpose, for satisfaction…he tried money, and ambition, and women, and building things, and drunkenness, and all these things, and came to the conclusion, …show more content…
that…what…
Vanity, vanity, (meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless)
Nothing that he found could fill him, nothing could satisfy him…
Blaise Pascal once said that everyone has this “God-shaped void” in our lives
And at one time or another we all try to fill this void with the things of this world…things that will never fill the void.
Rom 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
This is exactly what we do…maybe not images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
By the way does anyone know what that is called? Idolatry
Anything we put in the place of God…money, sex, relationships, even religious works…
Its all idolatry…
Jeremiah 2:11- 13
11b But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Why do we drink from cisterns that cannot hold water? Why do we lust after the things of this world that can never, will never satisfy?
why do we do it…
C.S. Lewis wrote:
We are half hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased.
You get it…I think I’ve beat this horse enough, we will just never be satisfied, if we look for fulfillment in the things of this world…but that doesn’t mean we can never be satisfied…
Lets never forget that infinite joy is offered to us…we can be fulfilled…we can be satisfied…
Jesus said
Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be? filled
One more thing…
All these that we try to find happiness in, all these things take a lot of work…you’ve gotta work to get money, work to get that car, or be in that relationship, or buy those new shoes…we spend a lot of money and a lot of time on the things that never satisfy…but…well this is how Isaiah put it…
Isaiah 55:1-2
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is
good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Why do we spend money on that which is not bread, why do labor, for that which does not satisfy…when the richest of fair, the only thing that satisfies, the one that fills us is entirely free to us…and that’s life in Christ Jesus. Amen?
Let me end on this vs
Rom. 3:22 through Rom. 3:24 (NIV) 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus