Valuing the place of hunger

Today is the first day of our monthly 3-day fast here at IHOP-KC. Folks from around the world join us in taking the first full Monday through Wednesday of each month (and the first full week in December) to position our hearts before the Lord in a 3-day solemn assembly with prayer and fasting. Everyone at IHOP makes it a priority in their schedule and attends at least two intercessory prayer meetings each day.

My roommates and I made some amazing blueberry, banana, and chocolate peanut butter chip pancakes on Saturday, and I think all that white flour and sugar is catching up with me today. My body is screaming for food!

But I am slowly learning to love the place of hunger. Not just hunger in the natural (actually, I think I still really hate that) but also spiritual hunger. But if you really stop to think about it, what makes something so satisfying when you are hungry? It is the very fact that you are hungry. If you weren't hungry, that perfect slice of pizza or the huge Spicy Chicken or Chipotle burrito would not be as satisfying.

I spent a little time thinking about this passage in Matthew 5 today:

“Blessed [or 'happy'] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
(Matt 5:6 NKJV)

Jesus is making an important point about the place of hunger that we as Christians do not often think about. He's essentially saying that there should be equal value placed on being hungry as there is on being filled.

Jesus is saying something contrary to what we often think is better - he emphasizes the happiness of the hungry, not the happiness of those who are filled. The passage does not say “blessed are those who are filled” (though this is true) but rather, “happy are the hungry.” But it is not guaranteed that those who just hunger and thirst will be filled. There are at least 2 conditions that Jesus speaks of:

1. We must hunger and thirst for "righteousness" - in other words, “the right thing”.
2. We must remain in the place of hunger all the days of our life – in other words, not resisting this hunger but rather cultivating it (through fasting, prayer, and voluntary weakness in pursuing full obedience to Jesus).

No other creature on the planet yearns for fullness (completeness) and infinity as human beings do. We each have an unfulfilled need for more than what this life can offer. No other creature has this need. Animals are not on an endless quest in the same way humans are. A squirrel stops seeking nuts when he has achieved a sufficiency of nuts, but man never attains a sufficiency of anything. This thirst is not an imperfection in man, rather it can be said that the more alive one is, the thirstier he is.

Why is this the case? All of humanity has an immeasurable and bottomless thirst for the infinite God. You can't repent for being hungry. It's one of the things God gave the human frame. However, we can ask for help in the areas we have filled our hunger with things other than God.

What a gift, the gift of hunger!

If you're fasting these 3 days, ask the Lord to help you value the place of being hungry for Him. Then, ask Him to fill it. He'll only increase the size of your heart in the process, only to make you more hungry so He can come and fill you again.