DAY FIVE: Happy Are the Hungry and Thirsty

The good life looks like a life of repentance, forgiveness, mercy, and serving the hurting.

When Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt. 5:6), he takes a common human feeling and connects it to God’s kingdom.

In the ancient Jewish world, people knew what true hunger and thirst were like. Food and water were not as abundant then as they are now. In the Jewish context of the first century, to thirst and hunger for righteousness was to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor the way you love yourself. Jesus understood covenantal faithfulness to the Torah as love for God, self, and neighbor (Matt. 22:37–39). To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to long for love and embody that love at school, at work, in relationships, in parenting, in everything.

Just as a person can’t live without food or water, we cannot live without God. We were made to be fueled by God’s life and love. He is the only food that will nourish us and the only drink that will satisfy our thirst. As the author of Scripture, Jesus has Isaiah 55:1 in mind: “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost!”

The food and water we need to live and thrive is free of charge—we simply must come. Our love for God doesn’t originate in us; it’s a response to his gift of eating and drinking at his banquet. He freely feeds us and gives us all we need to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Jesus says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. The word filled means to be bloated or gorged. Have you ever eaten so much that you are just stuffed? I must admit, I have done so on multiple occasions. Jesus is saying the satisfaction we are looking for is found in God himself.

Happy are those who are fattened, gorged, and overflowing with love for God, for themselves, and for their neighbors. Happy are those who partner with God to meet the deep hurts of the world with his deep love. There’s plenty of room at God’s banquet table— all the food and drink you want. Come, you’re invited to the life you were created for.

READ Isaiah 55:1.

As you reflect on this verse, what comes to mind? Do you trust God to provide all that is needed for life?

PRAY

Father, as your Word says, “How happy are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times” (Ps. 106:3). Through the indwelling life of Jesus, and the infinite power of the Holy Spirit, give me an unceasing hunger and thirst for righteousness. Glory be to your name, amen.