HUNGRY & THIRSTY: FULLFILLMENT
What is it that you are longing for? If Jesus were to stand before you and ask you what you really needed right now, what would you ask him for?
Personally, I might respond with a number of things. Direction. Wisdom. Financial.
When you look at the scriptures that are listed for this week in the season of lent I’m struck by the contrast between the story of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 17:1-7) and Jesus at the well in Samaria (Jn. 4:5-42).
ISRAEL: HUNGRY IN THE WILDERNESS
In the story of Israel in the wilderness you see a group of people who have experienced the power and love of God as he humbled the entire nation of Egypt and brought them out of slavery. They are free. Yet they still have daily needs. They know God can do the big things, but will he meet them in the little things? They doubt God’s love, so they doubt this provision.
They cry out “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” [Exodus 17:3]
It seems he deliberately chose the most ridiculous place for water to come out of to prove his love and power and to draw them closer to him.
God has a way of using our needs and longings to help us turn towards him. Our everyday needs become the tool God uses to make us aware of our deepest need, to be with him and to live in awareness of his love, goodness, and provision.
JESUS: HUNGRY IN SAMARIA
This is what we see in the life of Jesus in John 4. Jesus is tired and hungry and sends his disciples into Samaria to get some food. While they’re gone, he has an amazing interaction with a Samaritan woman. She is longing for love and acceptance. Jesus points her to how her deepest needs are met by being in relationship with God through him.
When the disciples come back with food, they encourage him to eat. He responds by saying,
"I have food to eat that you do not know about." [Jn. 4:32] Then he explains what he meant by saying "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” [Jn. 4:34]
I can’t help but wonder if in Jesus’ physical hunger, he was able to be more aware of the spiritual hunger of the woman that came into his presence. Could it be possible that God the Father used Jesus’ physical longing to make him see more clearly this woman’s spiritual hunger?
In the place of physical need, maybe Jesus was able to find a deeper need fulfilled. He found himself mor dependent on His Father and able to partner with him in bringing another sister into the Kingdom for eternity. That’s far more satisfying than a single meal.
Maybe an invitation from Jesus in this season of Lent is to fast.
The Spirit often uses our physical longings to show us where we are not as trusting of God as we thought we were. It can become a place where God meets us and satisfies the deeper longings we have.
