Our Lord said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). While much time and effort is consumed with preparing physical bread to nourish our earthly frames, Jesus encourages us to put forth the effort to be fed spiritually.  To the masses who followed Him when He multiplied the bread from a boy’s lunch to feed 5,000, He said, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you” (John 6:27).  Indeed, true life comes not from physical food, but from the word of God (Matthew 4:4; John 6:63).

We sometimes sing “God Is Calling the Prodigal” as an invitation including these words, “Come, there’s bread in the house of thy Father and to spare.”  While many would not consider themselves prodigals, in a spiritual sense they are starving like that young man who, after squandering his inheritance, gladly would have filled his belly with the husks the swine ate (Luke 15:16).  He realized that his father’s servants had “bread enough and to spare” (Luke 15:17).  Just as there were twelve baskets of leftovers gathered when Jesus multiplied the bread beside Galilee, so God’s word offers more than enough for us to be filled (John 6:13).  How can we ever exhaust the supply of spiritual nourishment God offers?

Have you tasted the word of God (Hebrews 6:5)?  Do you desire it so you may grow (1 Peter 2:2)?  Can you handle the meat (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:13-14)? Or are your interests in other areas?  Do you fill up on news, pop psychology, entertainment, sports, etc. and have no room for the truly nourishing teaching of God’s word?

The more we study the Bible the more our minds will become like God’s.  Bygone generations in this country saw many individuals in the Lord’s church who really knew God’s word; sadly, many in today’s generation have become so busy consuming every other kind of information that serious Bible study has taken a back seat.  When a generation arises that neither knows the Lord nor His judgments on morality, peril soon follows (Judges 2:10).

While others may search for satisfaction in their secular education, their physical prowess, or their attractive earthly possessions, let us be satisfied to simply know God through His word.  “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” Jeremiah 9:23-24.  Do you hunger to know God?

-Mark Day