Have you ever been singing a song and realized that the writer has experienced more of the Lord than you? There’s a line in a song that I’ve sung for years that says “Thou canst my hunger and thirst satisfy”.
Lately I’ve been challenging the Lord on whether He can truly be everything to me. My prayer has been, Lord show me how you can fill *all* my hunger and quench *all* my thirst. This week, I received light in a section in the Life Study of Exodus Message 32.
The children of Israel had experienced the Passover, they had crossed the Red Sea, they had experienced at Marah the bitter waters turning sweet, and they had the exciting experience of the twelve springs and seventy palm trees at Elim watering them. Yet after all these events the children of Israel became hungry and unsatisfied and began to complain.
We must realize that these experiences the people of Israel went through represent our experience of Christ in salvation, baptism, the Lord turning our bitterness towards Him into sweetness and the times when we really, really enjoy the Lord, like at a conference or retreat. The life-study message then says,
After we enjoy the Lord at Elim, we discover that we still have a problem with the flesh and with the lust of the flesh. This problem is caused by hunger. Deep within, we are undernourished. We have a hunger that has not been satisfied.
It seems that when we are enjoying the Lord as our daily life supply the flesh is subdued, but when we are weak and forget to eat, the fleshly things rise up in us. So the line should really be “Thou canst my hunger and thirst satisfy only if I eat and drink the Lord daily in sufficient quantities to fully satisfy me.”
This is true: when I am in myself and feeling gloomy, I also lose my hunger for the Lord. I feed on the wrong things and don’t feel like being around the saints.
The Lord led the children of Israel through the wilderness for a reason. It was in the wilderness that their true hunger became evident. Deep within they still longed for the garlic and the leeks of Egypt. After their hidden desires were exposed, the Lord then gave them the daily manna as their food supply.
The same it is with us: Sometimes it seems that the Lord will lead us into situations that are apparent wildernesses where we lack the daily life supply. He does this to expose our true hunger and cause us to see how fleshly we are. After this experience He can send us the daily manna to be our daily life supply.
So what do we do when we are hungry? We must learn the secret of choosing to turn to our spirit. We may at first just be able to call on His name, but if we continue to call in deep way we will spark the mingled spirit which is life. Then after a short time we will be able pray read a verse which will be food to us.
It is like nursing the body to receive food after a bit of a stomach flu. The more we perfect this secret in our daily living, the less often will we find ourselves in a bad spiritual condition. How do we avoid hunger in the first place? We must daily eat the Lord in sufficient quantities to fully saturate and satisfy us. Lord make this my reality!
References: the song “My heart is hungry, my spirit doth thirst“, Life-study of Exodus, message 32. [guest post: sister Sharon]
