March 10

For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. — Ps 107:9 BSB

God’s people are often described as the ‘hungry.’ But what are they hungering for? Is it pleasure, honor, wealth, or respectability? No, these worldly things cannot satisfy a living soul’s hunger. A spiritual person cannot hunger after things that cannot nourish them. They hunger after righteousness, as the Lord said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” They hunger for God Himself, for His blessed presence; they hunger for the bread of life that came down from heaven, that one may eat of and never die.

Christ in the mere letter of the Word cannot satisfy their intense hunger. They must feed on Him spiritually, or their hunger will remain. To a hungry soul, having Christ only in the letter is like a starving beggar standing outside a shop full of food, but without a penny to buy it. What is Christ in the letter? Will a glimpse of Him in the Word of God lift the burden of guilt, bring peace to the soul, purify the conscience, or conquer the power of sin? Will mere knowledge of Him draw your heart to Him, cast out the world, dethrone self, or purify the heart? “Alas!” we say from painful experience, “not one bit, not one bit.” But the presence of Christ in the soul can do all of this. A hungry, starving soul can only be satisfied by Christ Himself entering the heart as the hope of glory.