"God is in the filling business"

There is an amazing verse in Matthew 5.  Jesus, in a section that is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, said these profound words: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (verse 6).”  From the outset, let me state that I could say so much more about this verse.  To fully unpack it would probably take 4 or 5 blogs.  I do hope that what I have for you today will impact you as deeply as it has me.

First of all, notice that Jesus speaks of two powerful motivators: hunger and thirst.  I know very well what it is to be hungry and thirsty.  They are desperate longings.  Nothing else matters until the thirst and hunger is quenched.  God made us that way, and this is true not only physically but also spiritually.

I read a sermon on this text from John Piper (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-those-who-hunger-and-thirst-for-righteousness) ); at one point, he said,

“God has put eternity in our hearts and we have an inconsolable longing…many of you here this morning are like this.  Your soul is hungry and your heart is thirsty.  You feel an insatiable longing for something.  You are restless.  Almost everywhere you turn, the grass is greener than where you stand.  And the great tragedy for some of you is that even though this is the Spirit of God beckoning you to himself, you turn away again and again to… temporary pleasures…And everything turns to ashes in your hands.  The thrill of lust leaves the sediment of guilt and loneliness.  The drugs and alcohol can’t keep you from waking up in the real world again and again with your messed-up relationships.”

 

There is a haunting line in the song Blessings by Laura Story: “What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?”  One author puts it this way: “God is in the filling business.  In fact, the word “fill” means to be satisfied in the sense of being stuffed after a sumptuous meal.  If you are eating the junk food of the self-centered life, you’ll never be satisfied.” (source: https://newsok.com/article/3857185)  This would be a very good place for an “amen”.  Or as Oswald Chambers said (from the same just cited article): “There is only One Being who can satisfy the aching abyss of the human heart and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Kevin