A Good Spiritual Appetite

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, You are what you eat. It’s the same in the spiritual realm. If true, then King David had a ravenous appetite for God. Listen to the cry of heart: “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek You; I thirst for You, my whole being longs for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." [Psalm 63.1].

That is a healthy spiritual appetite. It reminds me of the famous Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" [Matthew 5.6]. 

The words “hunger” and “thirst” are present participles in the Greek. It implies continuous action: “Blessed are the hungering” and “Blessed are the thirsting.” The point is, it speaks of an intense desire - for righteousness. The joy is, that continuous intense hunger and thirst for righteousness is continuously satisfied in Christ. 

In his great book, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Martin Lloyd-Jones quoted J. N. Darby, a Plymouth Brethren commentator: "To be hungry is not enough; I must be really starving to know what is in [God's] heart towards me. When the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon husks, but when he was starving, he turned to his father” [vol. 1, p. 81].

Here is a final quote from King David. I hope they will be your words too:

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness" [Psalm 17.15].

Your appetite for righteousness should equal your appetite for food and water.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5.6