by Emily Hoppin

We all have a hunger inside of us, a void that needs to be filled. The question is what we fill it with and whether or not that will satisfy us. If we search for something here on earth to satisfy us, we will only hunger all the more. If we pursue wealth, for example, it will not be able to save us in the day of calamity, satisfy our inner hunger, or save us from sin (Ezekiel 7:19). Chasing after the things of this world will only lead us into sin, and then it will be with us “as when a hungry person dreams of eating but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking but awakens faint and thirsty still” (Isaiah 29:8). Hungering and thirsting after the things of this world is equivalent to serving idols rather than God, which will leave us empty in the end.

On the contrary, the only thing that can truly satisfy the void left by worthless idols is being filled with God’s righteousness, which is revealed in Jesus Christ. When we hunger and thirst for the righteousness that liberates us from sin and its consequences, we are hungering and thirsting for Him. He told us: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35). Rather than try to satisfy our hunger with things that can never satisfy, let us feast upon Jesus, our righteousness, for “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-15).

In the same way, surrounded by a broken world void of God’s love and presence, we as His children also hunger and thirst for the justice and restoration that come from God. As those who have been filled by Him, let us also not forget the hungry and thirsty all around us.

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”

-Blaise Pascal