Are You Hungry?
Deut. 8:1-3
Have you ever been really hungry? (Working on road crew – 10 hamburgers)
Deut. 8:3
a. Relate background
b. Moses wanted them to think about where that bread came from.
c. Neither the manna nor the miracle was as important as listening to God’s word and doing what it said (Ex. 16:19-20).
Mt. 4:4 – food is not as important as obeying His word.
The manna also provides some useful parallels for us in emphasizing the importance of daily Bible study.
First, think about how useful hunger is.
If we were never hungry we would have to be force-fed or die. (The doctor decided to put his overweight patient on a diet. "I want you to eat regularly for two days," he said. "Then I want you to skip a day. Follow this pattern for two weeks and come back to see me. After two weeks you should lose five pounds." Two weeks later the man came back for his appointment. He had lost twenty pounds. The doctor asked, "You lost all this weight just by following my instructions?" The man said, "Yes, but I'll tell you though, I thought I was going to drop dead on that third day." The doctor asked, "From hunger?" "No," the man said. "From skipping!")
"Suffer thee to hunger" or "God let you get hungry". Why? By their hunger they recognized both their need and that God would provide.
We too, need to be hungry for God’s word.
Matt. 5:6
I Pet. 2:2
Not having an appetite is abnormal.
A Christian not having an appetite for God’s word is abnormal.
Psa. 42:1
In other words, we should so want to be filled with God’s word we hunger after it. There is a gnawing. We feel empty without it.
That means, regardless who is teaching our class or standing before us in this pulpit, we should be leaning forward, straining to hear every word. Is it not the word of God?
Who takes you by the collar and says "Eat?" Why should God’s word be any different?
Are you hungry?
God gave them manna as long as they were in the wilderness (Jos. 5:12).
The desert was barren. It offered nothing, only God could provide.
We too, are living in a wilderness, a spiritual wilderness. This world offers us nothing.
I Pet. 2:11
Whether it be education, science, luxury, or pleasure; there is nothing in this world that provides salvation, hope and peace with God.
People today have to deal with the numerous frustrations just like the Israelites.
Keep our minds on where we are going.
Trouble with bad habits.
Cope with conditions.
God will provide for us if we will feed on His word. Some of us are starving to death and don’t realize it.
Are you hungry?
Notice God gave them manna for everyday, even the Sabbath.
Seven days a week; 52 weeks a year; 365 days a year for 40 years; 14,600 days! God gave it and they ate it. Why? Because they were hungry.
Ordinarily, we expect to eat everyday. By what rule have we decided that we need spiritual food only for 30 minutes once a week? Wednesday? Daily?
Are you hungry?
The manna was only appreciated by those who actually ate it ("thou knowest not, neither did they fathers know").
Manna – "What is it?"
While described for us, only those who ate it could really appreciate what it was like.
I can tell you what Escargot taste like (Tony – snail), but you will not really know until you taste it. (Took Karen a while but once she tasted it)
Only those who feed daily on God’s word can we know the satisfaction, the thrill and the comfort. The reason why some don’t like Bible study or get bored with it is because they have never really taken the time to taste it.
Manna was described:
Ex. 16:31 – "tasted sweet like wafers made with honey" but God’s word is described as being "Sweeter than honey and honeycomb" in Psalms 19:1.
As "Angel’s food" in Psalms 78 but the gospel is the truth that angels hungered to know in I Pet. 1.
Are you hungry?
But some of the Israelites got tired of the manna.
Num. 11:4-6 and 21:5
They wanted some "spice" in their diet. Tired of plain old manna (imagine, tired of food specially made by God)
But even worse people tire of God’s word, find it boring, want something more exciting (imagine being tired of the very words of God).
But the problem was not the manna, it was the people; and the problem is not God’s word, it is us! We are simply not hungry anymore.
Are you hungry?
"Give us this day our daily bread (Mt. 6:11)."
a. Probably worst mistake in rearing a family.
b. Here is the answer to needless anxiety, frustrations, continue growth instead of a slow spiritual death of malnutrition.
Let me ask you something, "Are you hungry?"
Mt. 4:4
Some here today need to make some changes in their attitudes, actions and their attendance.
James Pharr
Lenoir, NC