HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU?

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”.

Hungry people are desperate people. They refuse to wait; they break the lines; they ignore cultural traditions. Hungry people refuse to remain hungry.

As we enter the Holiday season full of lavish Holiday dinners, extravagant treats, and cherished family recipes, our focus can turn to indulging natural appetites. But there is a hunger that is stronger than the rumble of our stomachs.

Jesus found this kind of hunger while visiting Tyre and Sidon. A woman whose daughter was possessed and tormented by a demon heard that He was there. But the woman was Greek, “A Syro-Phoenician by birth “. Mark 7:26. She was technically outside the covenant God had made with Israel. Yet she was acutely spiritually hungry for a miracle and that “technicality” did not matter to her. Her hunger for God to move on her behalf made her faith persistent.

Even when Jesus tested her faith, saying that the “bread”, or gift of God was first for the children of Israel, she would not be deterred.

“Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table!” Mark 7:28

Many who are invited to the table of the Lord are not that hungry. They experience His presence and power in worship and sit back with crossed arms; they hear a penetrating message from His Word and check their texts. They sit in front of a lavish feast of God’s grace and love. But they turn up their noses in disinterest …because they are not really hungry.

This Greek woman was so hungry, she was grateful for even a crumb. And her daughter was miraculously delivered because of it.

HOW HUNGRY FOR GOD ARE YOU?