Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6 (KJV).

REFLECT:
Food is an essential part of our lives. This is information and an experience we are all aware of. We eat food for a couple of reasons, we eat food so that we can feel satisfied and not stay hungry, to keep our bodies strong and healthy, to keep our active lives, and to stay alive. These are all excellent reasons to eat food.

However, there are times the reasons for eating the food given above may fall short of our expectations. There are times people are hungry, but when they eat they come out of their eating experience very unsatisfied or dissatisfied regardless of their being full or not. The reasons for such an experience may be that they did not like the food, and therefore, did not enjoy it.

There are still other very serious reasons for eating food and still not being satisfied, these reasons have to do with deep spiritual issues which could be a thing of the heart. In the times we live in, it only takes one to look in the faces of so many people around us to understand. What do we see when we look at such faces? We see things like depression, despair, guilt, worry, anxiety, bondage of every kind, and a deep longing for freedom that only something (or someone) powerful can satisfy.

The Bible recounts an incredible story about Jesus in the book of John chapter 4. (Please refer to this chapter in your Bible for a comprehensive version of the story). On one of His journeys, Jesus had to go through a region of Samaria and came to a well in a place called Sychar.

On getting there He met a woman who came to draw some water from the well. An interesting dialog ensued between Jesus and this woman. First and foremost she was a Samaritan, and thus had no business mingling with Jews, but here was Jesus talking to her about His Divinity, who He is, where He came from, the reason and purpose for which He was sent, who God the Father is and God’s expectations for us His creation.

In addition, Jesus touches a deep chord in the very soul of this woman, the real and precise needs and desires of her heart which no other person knew about but Jesus.

Now here comes the part connected to our discus, Jesus’ disciples, who at the time this dialog was going on were away looking for food to buy as Jesus was famished, had just returned with some food, when they meet Jesus talking to this Samaritan who was by now had experienced a great encounter with Jesus like never before and was making her way out to call people to meet Jesus.

The disciples do their best to urge Jesus to eat but He wouldn’t, which surprises them and makes them wonder if he had already eaten. So what would have happened here? Why was Jesus no longer hungry, or had He gone into starvation mode? Didn’t He like the food they bought? That may have been very much the case.

What Jesus says next will surprise us. He tells His disciple that He has eaten food that they do not have the slightest inclination about and this food was very satisfying— AMAZING! So, what food did Jesus just eat? Our Bible verse for today gives us an insight into the kind of food Jesus ate, it is the food that satisfies called RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Did Jesus offer the same food to the Samaritan woman at the well? Of course, He did! Before she met Jesus at the well, she was a depressed, dejected, abused, rejected woman. A woman who dwelt so much in darkness that she did not think there was going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, she carried a load of guilt on her shoulders, but then she met Jesus and was fed with the satisfying food of Righteousness.

The fact is that all of us at different levels still hunger and thirst for this righteousness. The most basic level are people who do not even know Jesus, and who do not have the slightest inclination about what this food is. However, they find themselves in that constant motion and cycle of looking for other kinds of foods to satisfy the cravings of the soul but without any result. For this group of people, Jesus is saying, ‘come taste and see that the LORD is good!’ Psalms 34:8.

Others who have successfully gone beyond the basic stage, those of us who now call Jesus Lord and Savior, have a different kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our kind of hunger and thirst after righteousness is that higher calling Jesus is calling us to; another dimension, and into a greater realm of experience in Him.

The sad thing is that most of us may be resisting this call in some way e.g. our hearts and minds may be blinded by some religious or theological perceptions that may be keeping us from understanding the move of God and the new thing He is doing in this hour. For such people in this category, He is not only saying to us to come taste and see His goodness, but also reminding us of this “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 4:2 KJV.

This means that many different compartments in God constitute huge mansions, all we have to do is step into those mansions whenever He beckons for us to come up into a new relationship, realm, and dimension in Him.

However, for every one of us whether we are in the first or second group Jesus is saying that if and when we realize our deep hunger and thirst after righteousness for God, we automatically are qualified as being Blessed! Meaning that we will be filled with a deep satisfying Joy and fulfillment that the temporary and fleeting things that our fleshly and worldly achievements can never give.

Realizing our need for God’s righteousness in Christ Jesus and our decision to partake of it in every way possible will always give us a new opportunity to experience God on a different level.

Ebimobo W. Obasi

PLEASE PRAY ALONG:

A Prayer to Hunger and Thirst After God.

FATHER GOD, You are the only one who can satisfy the deepest needs and desires of my soul. Please help me to answer your call to partake of that righteous food you have to offer me, the only food that can satisfy my cravings. Deliver me from anything that would want to hinder me from experiencing the new in You. Help me to encourage others also to experience you in the various ways you are inviting them to. Thank you for being our Good LORD and for blessing us in return. In JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN!