Mt. 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness….”
The Hebrew children lusted for the flesh pots of Egypt. They thought about them, they dreamed about them, they continually talked about them. “Oh, remember the fish?” one would say. Another, “Ah, the garlic..” They began to complain. All they had was God and God was not enough. Jesus would later say, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” God’s principles are timeless.
The God who can change stones into bread can supply all our needs. Even the Manna became “old” quickly for those who missed Egypt more than they loved God. Even though it came “fresh” every morning, Israel became bored with its breakfast. They wanted meat. They wanted flesh. They wanted something they could chew. God sent them quails, piles and pails of quails.
I remember what a treat getting ice cream was as a child. My mother pinched pennies. A quart or block of ice cream was divided up among five. The pieces were small, but I never tasted better ice cream. That August day in 1950 was ice cream nirvana. It was the gold standard by which all other ice cream experiences would be measured by me, and nothing has ever come close. Years later, prosperity brought more ice cream but none better. As a teenager I took a job as a counter clerk at an ice cream stand. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. During my break I was given permission to make and eat anything I wanted, and let me tell you, that first week, “I wanted.” The first week was wonderful. That soon changed. I had had enough. By the time I left Mr. Gillan’s employment, I seldom ate ice cream.
Israel was excited at the sight of quails in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11. They ate the birds until they were “coming out of their noses.” Too much of anything in this world will make you sick. The people got sick. The world will also spoil our appetite for God. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” This spiritual hunger is the reverse of physical hunger. The less we have of God, the less we want. The more we have of Him the more we hunger for Him. The more we snack on the world between meals, the less we care for heaven. However even with God, we are not to live just to eat, but eat to live, and there is a difference. If we never push ourselves away from the well-laden table and work in the vineyard, soon we may be big, but not any better. May we never forget that we are saved to serve. When we have spent ourselves in His service, when we have burned the fuel called faith in His fields, when we have worked the works of Him that sent us, then what a welcome sight will be His Table.
-id