- Physical hunger and Spiritual hunger are not the same.
Physical hunger will continue until one’s appetite is satiated.
Spiritual hunger is the opposite. You lose your appetite by neglecting it. If one is not spiritually fed, the more she doesn’t eat, the more she loses the desire altogether. One must learn to spiritually feed herself and know the necessity of spiritual nourishment for herself and where to find the choicest morsels……..
However, with both the physical appetite and the spiritual appetite, the more you eat, the hungrier you get.
What do you do in the twilight zone when you have lost your spiritual appetite? How do you stop the cycle? The first thing you do is “force feed” yourself. Sit down and read the Word out loud to yourself.
(From Dr David Jeremiah’s series on the Beatitudes ❤️)
August 13,2022
A friend posted this week about hearing the Lord speak in her spirit about “spiritual leanness.” She had been reflecting on it and asked if others had any insight about this phrase. I was reminded of this summary above of a message I had heard and written about a few years ago from Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.”
I thought about her pondering “spiritual leanness” and this word also spoke to the issue:
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
When Jesus is listing the blessedness of those entering into the kingdom of heaven through brokenness, poverty of spirit, and grief, in a spiritual leanness that borders on the edge of death in Matthew 5, I think he had this Deuteronomic description of the Promised Land in mind. Who could know scarcity or want in such a hospitable place of provision offered to us by God?
When I consider God’s history of feeding His people I think about the lush fruitfulness of Eden, of the provision for his people in Egypt in advance of famine, of the multiplication of the Hebrews’ herds while in Egypt, of manna on the ground each day and water from rocks in the wilderness during the Exodus, of Elijah fed by ravens at Zerith, of the multiplication of the widow’s flour and oil to provide during the three year drought, of Gideon threshing grain in the secrecy and safety of a wine press, of David’s lunch delivery to his brothers that preceded the defeat of the Philistines, of John the Baptist eating locusts and honey, of Jesus feeding multitudes with a child’s lunch with baskets full left over, of nets full of fish at the word of the Lord, of Jesus and his disciples plucking heads of grain in the field to eat on Sabbath, of the disciples preparing the Passover meal in Jerusalem, of God’s provision for the Temple priests, of the people of The Way in Acts sharing all things in common, of the ordaining of deacons to assure equitable provision for Gentile widows, of Paul’s urging believers to give for the care of the poor….and more. God knows our physical need for nourishment and provides for those and through those who enter the kingdom and understand its economic and spiritual principles….. God also knows the spiritual hunger hidden within our spirit and that he meets with a scroll like the one Isaiah tasted that was as sweet as honey, with the “food” Jesus’ disciples didn’t know about when they arrived back at Jacob’s well in Samaria, with the miracle of water becoming finest wine Jesus demonstrated at the wedding in Cana, with the piece de resistance he brought to the potluck dinner at Zaccheus’ house, and with Jesus’ own body and blood offered for salvation and healing that would sustain all generations of believers in all nations for all time going forward from the time of Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost’s Holy Spirit feast.
God does not dole out puny rations that leave us spiritually lean. He provides us a generous banquet, a rich diverse feast from among his own flocks, fields, orchards, and vineyards. We have only to say “yes” to the signed invitation his son sealed and delivered. We may take our seat at the table and know that each plate and cup will continue to be filled for all eternity with God’s BEST!
When we neglect the invitation, when we find seemingly more important things to do at the time of the assembly, when we prefer our own home-cooking over the feast of fellowship with the Lord and his people, we will experience the famine of the word as described in Amos 8:11-13
“11 “Look! The days are coming,”
declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine throughout the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water—
but rather a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People[h] will stagger from sea to sea,
from north to east.
They will run back and forth,
searching for a message from the Lord,
but they won’t find it.”
There is a spiritual leanness coming…. It is here already. It will get worse. Store up his Word in your heart and it will nourish you when that famine has come.