Hungry?
Recently my daily reading took me through Deuteronomy 8. In this passage Moses is recounting God’s works on behalf of Israel over the 40 years of wilderness wanderings. In verse 3 we find the following statement.
He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
Did you get that? God was purposefully humbling them and letting them go hungry. There was a purpose behind the lack of provisions and seemingly hopeless prospect of finding any out in the wilderness.
God’s purpose was so that he might satisfy His people with Himself and teach them that every good blessing comes from Him.
D.A. Carson comments,
The sad reality is that fallen people like you and me readily fixate on God’s gifts and ignore their Giver. At some point this degenerates into worshiping the created thing rather than the Creator (cf. Rom. 1:25. God knows that is Israel’s danger. He is bringing them into a land with agricultural promise, adequate water, mineral wealth (8:6-9). What likelihood would there be at that point of learning that, “man does not live on bread alone but on every owrd that comes from the mouth of the LORD”?
Carson goes on to ask,
In what ways does your life show you cherish every word that comes from the mouth of God, above all the blessings and even the necessities of this life?
I know reading this passage and contemplating what I hunger for made me want to fast- I want- I need to be hungry on some level so that I might see more clearly the all satisfying nature of my God.
My fear is that in our American affluence we are slow to learn this truth. May God give us grace to taste and see that the LORD is good and His lovingkindness is better than life.