Daily Devotional For Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Well, it is Wonderful Wednesday and you are approaching what is called “hump day” because you are almost halfway through this week. We are making our way through the Sermon On The Mount, the greatest and most famous sermon ever in Matthew 5, 6, & 7.  We are specifically looking at The Beatitudes that are found in Matthew 5:3-12.  We are in the fourth Beatitude found in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (ESV). I remind you that each Beatitude comes in a specific order for a reason. They are not haphazard by Jesus. He intentionally gave them in an order so that we can see that each one builds on the previous one. Without the previous one, you cannot build your life on them.

With that being said, most of us have never ever faced life-threatening hunger or thirst. We tend to think of hunger as missing breakfast or lunch or we define hunger and thirst as having to wait to eat or get some cool drink on a hot day. We express this with statements such as, “I’m starving” when in reality we have some mild hunger pains. Most of us living in America have never genuinely experienced starvation or extreme dehydration due to poverty. But the hunger and thirsts Jesus refers to in Matthew 5:6 is spiritual, not physical. This reminds me of a story I was read in a Bible commentary:

“During the liberation of Palestine in World War I, a combined force of British, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers was closely pursuing the Turks as they retreated from the desert. As the allied troops moved northward past Beersheba they began to outdistance their water-carrying camel train. When the water ran out, their mouths got dry, their heads ached, and they became dizzy and faint. Eyes became bloodshot, lips swelled and turned purple, and mirages became common. They knew that if they did not make the wells of Sheriah by nightfall, thousands of them would die—as hundreds already had done. Literally fighting for their lives, they managed to drive the Turks from Sheriah.

As water was distributed from the great stone cisterns, the more able-bodied were required to stand at attention and wait for the wounded and those who would take guard duty to drink first. It was four hours before the last man had his drink. During that time the men stood no more than twenty feet from thousands of gallons of water, to drink of which had been their consuming passion for many agonizing days. It is said that one of the officers who was present reported, “I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on the march from Beersheba to Sheriah Wells. If such were our thirst for God, for righteousness and for His will in our lives, a consuming, all-embracing, preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruit of the Spirit would we be?” (Source: E.M. Blaiklock, Eternity Magazine, “Water,” 1966, p. 27).

This is the kind of hunger and thirst Jesus refers to here – an all-embracing, preoccupying hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is not a once in a lifetime hunger or thirst at conversion, but one that stays with us until we stand face-to-face before Him in heaven. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:

"That is the kind of hunger and thirst of which Jesus speaks in this beatitude. The strongest and deepest impulses in the natural realm are used to represent the depth of desire the called of God and redeemed have for righteousness. The present participle is used in each case and signifies continuous longing, continuous seeking. Those who truly come to Jesus Christ come hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and those who are in Him continue to know that deep longing for holiness” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 181).

Consider that these people wrote in the Bible expressing the same thoughts as Jesus in this Beatitude:

• King David wrote this in Psalm 63:1, “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (NASB). 
• The Apostle Paul wrote this in Philippians 3:8-10, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, (9) and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, (10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (NASB).
• The Apostle Peter wrote this in 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (NASB).

Again, I quote pastor and author John MacArthur:

“John Darby wrote, `To be hungry is not enough; I must be really starving to know what is in God’s heart toward me. When the prodigal son was hungry, he] went to feed on the husks, but when he was starving, he turned to his father.” That is the hunger of which the fourth beatitude speaks, the hunger for righteousness that only the Father can satisfy’” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 182).

When Mary gets word from the Archangel Gabriel that she will bear the Messiah and that her cousin Elizabeth will bear the forerunner to the Messiah, John the Baptizer, she expressed these words in her “Magnificat” in Luke 1:53, “He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed” (NASB). I really like how pastor and author Chuck Swindoll summarizes this Beatitude:

“True disciples of Christ have an insatiable appetite for spiritual truth and a life of holiness. The “righteousness” here is both positional—having a right relationship with God by grace through faith—and practical—living out that right relationship in our just acts of love toward God and others. Jesus is referring to a passionate desire to know and walk intimately with the Lord. When we have this desire, we can’t get enough of His Word, devouring it, digesting it, and putting it into practice. We can’t drink deeply enough from the fount of truth, letting it flow into us, through us, and out of us as we refresh the lives of others. Such a desire for righteousness has its own reward, the fruit of righteousness being a clean conscience, a deeper love for God and others, and a life free from fear, regret, and shame” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament, “Mathew,” Vol. 1A, p. 89).

Many of you will recognize the name Henry David Thoreau, the famous transcendentalist, best known for his works Walden and Civil Disobedience, supposedly had the following discussion with his aunt on his deathbed.

“Aunt: Have you made your peace with your God?

Thoreau: I never quarreled with my God.

Aunt: But aren’t you concerned about the next world?

 Thoreau: One world at a time”  (Source:http://www.nairaland.com/296450/last-words-famous-people-alexande)r.

On Thursday, we will look at the goal of spiritual hunger, the results of spiritual hunger and the testing of spiritual hunger. 

Questions To Consider

1. How hungry and thirsty are you personally for righteousness and what is the proof?
2. Would you say you are spiritually starving and thirsty to know what God’s will, purpose and plan is for your life? 
3. “Righteousness” is more than just “right living.” It is a pursuit of what will make your character more like the character of Jesus Christ. On a scale of 0-100, what score would you give yourself for the intentionality and intensity of your pursuit for righteousness and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 107:9, “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I want the kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness described in this devotional. I want You the Bread of Life. I want You the Living Water. I want Your character to be my character. Please help me with this. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly