Most people eat constantly—and constantly think about eating. Eating is often the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing we do at night.
Instead, when we wake up, we should remember our spiritual hunger. We need to consume spiritual food. Do you wake up and think about God’s word? Did you have a spiritual breakfast this morning? Many of us never think about it, probably because we don’t feel the same hunger pains for spiritual food that we do for calories.
But we need God’s word every day. Don’t believe me? Consider how different your life is when you dine on the word daily versus when you haven’t read it for weeks. You know it makes a difference.
And the food/hunger/famine metaphor is Biblical. Often God warns His people about coming famines, but sometimes He sends spiritual famines, times when His voice is silenced, and people discover how badly they need Him and have strayed from walking with Him.
“I will send a famine through the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” Amos 8:11-12.
Commentators write that this prophecy was fulfilled in the Inter-Testamental period when, for 400 years, God spoke not to Israel, neither through prophet nor priest. And the people were miserable, feeling abandoned.
By contrast, how many Christians do you know who have never heard the voice of the Lord, and don’t even care? Many spend entire lives listening only to themselves and their friends, never even expecting God to speak. –And He won’t speak if you are not spending time in His Word.
God, remind us that spending time in Your word is like sitting with you over a meal or a cup of coffee—You speak to us when we read the Bible. Give us a deeper hunger for your Word!
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Household Words: 