“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6
Dear Ones:
If you ever wondered if God was at work in your life, I believe there is one fool-proof confirmation that He is, and it has to do with thirst, specific thirst. Jesus calls it “…hungering and thirsting after righteousness.” Why is this thirst indicative of God working in the heart? It is by the thirsts, specific and numerous, that God draws out our hearts to Him. What do we mean by hunger and thirst? It is a very real, specific, consciousness of a need. Furthermore, when that need pushes, drives, or draws us to seek the Lord for the answer, it is then that we KNOW that He is working. He does not bring us to the place of realizing a need in the life, only that it should be met without Him. God calls us, sometimes through the thirsts that He gives, so that we should pursue and seek Him. There is a certainty, and assurance, that comes with spiritual thirst. We see it written in the book of Isaiah: “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek ye me in vain.’ I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” (45:19) Here the Lord is making very clear that in His dealings with us, He seeks not to deceive us, nor to “hide” that we cannot find Him. That which is so very important to grasp here is that He speaks that which is right, for He is righteous. Jesus Christ is all perfect righteousness. All that the Father has made the Son to be to us is “righteousness,” or rightness. It is absolutely right. All the concepts, ideas, and convictions of men, expressed in word or deed, are NOT right, unless they have their essence, and expression in Christ. When the Lord Jesus told His disciples to, “…Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,” He was speaking of that absolute and perfect rightness, or righteousness, of God, that which is right in His sight. So, what is the role of the thirsts, and the hungering that we have? It’s purpose is that God will: “…pour water on him that is thirsty, floods upon the dry ground.” The thirsts and hunger of the heart, are very real, so that, with great certainty, we can say that if their origin is in God, and we are drawn to seek Christ, then He desires and wills that He be sought and found.
In Luke’s gospel, we find the story of Zacchaeus, a rich man, the chief of publicans, a tax collectors. Jesus came to Jericho, and was intent on passing through the city. Being of short stature, Zacchaeus could not see over the crowd, so he ran on ahead of Jesus, climbed a sycomore tree, where he could clearly see Jesus. He did not realize that his desire to see Christ would result in his salvation. His thirst to know the truth, and to see Jesus, drove him to be put directly in Jesus’ path. What was it that drove Zacchaeus to do this? It was God working in his heart. It is interesting that, when Jesus came to the place where Zacchaeus was in the tree, He looked up, saw him, and said to him: “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide in thy house.” (Luke 19:5) Zacchaeus’ hunger and thirst after that which was eternally right, to see Christ, to hear His words, drove him to seek Him. The result of that meeting, and Jesus going to his home, was the salvation of Zacchaeus. It was the hungering and thirsting after spiritual reality, in particular as it related to Christ, that Zacchaeus came to know sins forgiven, and eternal life. The thirst and the hunger that God gave, resulted in Zacchaeus finding God.
Dear Father, Give to us this day that blessed hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Then we will know Thy salvation, and that Thou wilt surely satisfy our hearts, as we seek first Thy kingdom and righteousness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad