Mensa Otabil - A Hunger for God's Word
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Amos 8:1 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of God. God uses the metaphor of extreme hunger to describe the way people are going to desire the word of God. Of course, when He spoke this through the prophet Amos, He was warning the people who were rejecting the word of God that a time is going to come when they will desire the word of God and not hear it. But that word also speaks to us today. When we hear the word of God all the time, God says even if we hear it constantly, we must still develop a hunger for the word of God.
Now, famine is very extreme. In times of famine, people are not looking for food that tastes good or smells good; in times of famine, people are looking for food to survive. Their survival depends on food, and that’s how God’s word must be to us: that our daily survival must be based on the word of God-hearing the word of God, reading the word of God, understanding the word of God, studying the word of God. The approach we have towards God’s word must be intense.
These days, we hear people preaching all the time. Many times they’re preaching, but they’re not really preaching from the word of God. Sometimes it’s just talking, but real teaching of the word of God should become our necessary food. So when a person who is in a famine finds food or finds water, they relish every moment; and that’s what we should have when we pursue God. Any time we read the Bible, it should be like fresh water to us. It should be like fresh manna to us. We should hear the word of God for our daily survival, and hunger for the word of God produces a few things.
The first is Godly priorities. Our priorities reflect what we consider to be most important to us. The more the word of God becomes central to us, the more our priorities shift. Sometimes our priority may be just to make money, or just to do well in our profession and vocation in life. But the word of God helps us to set the right priorities. This happens when God becomes our number one priority, and it comes when we hunger and thirst for the word of God.
Secondly, the hunger for the word of God helps us in our Godly pursuits- the things we run after. Every day, people pursue something; just look around. If you’re driving, everybody’s going somewhere else; if you’re walking, you find people going places. If you ask where they are going, everybody’s pursuing something. Somebody’s going to pursue money, while someone else might be pursuing something entirely different. The word of God helps us to align our pursuits- the things we run after, the things that we desire — with the things that God wants us to run after. We must pursue what God wants us to pursue.
Number three: hunger for the word of God affects our pleasures, and we develop Godly pleasure. Every human being likes pleasure. After you’ve worked, you want to do something for relaxation. We watch a movie, we go out to eat at a restaurant, we take a stroll, we visit friends, we read a book, or we play a game. Everybody does something for pleasure. Sometimes the things that give us pleasure can also give us trouble. So, when we anchor ourselves in the word of God, our pleasure becomes Godly.
After we’ve worked and labored, we want to do something for relaxation to relieve our tension. It must not be something that takes us out of the will of God; it must be something that is pleasurable, nice, good, refreshing, and Godly at the same time. How can we do that? When we hunger and thirst for the word of God.
So, you see, hunger and thirst for the word of God will help us with our priorities, our pursuits, and our pleasures. That is how we build our Christian life- just doing the will of God from beginning to end.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, my soul yearns for You. Feed me daily with Your word and renew me with Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.