today’s confession is one common to us all, it is part of the human condition and we share this confession on multiple levels.  It is particularly pertinent and poignant during this time of crisis that the corona virus has visited on our world. It is this – I am hungry.

Even as I write this, I realize that hunger was already a daily reality for many people around the globe and right here in the U.S. before any of us had even heard of the COVID-19 virus.  And now hunger is increasing as people lose their jobs and slip into poverty, which for many is just one lost paycheck away.

But my hunger today is not due to lost wages or to restaurants being closed for so long or from grocery store shelves being less than fully stocked. No, today I am hungry for hugs, for hand holding, for handshakes, for high fives, for human contact that is not virtual.

Not all hunger is physical.  There is a hunger of the soul and of the spirit.  We know, even without the studies confirming it, that babies do not do well if they are not held and touched and talked to.  Without human touch and interaction, newborn babies fail to thrive, even resulting in death.

No wonder physical isolation is not good for people of any age.  From newborn to senior citizen, we never stop needing the human touch.  We were created for community, not for solitary confinement.

But there is another kind of hunger.  It is a hunger that can leave you desperate and searching, restless and unsatisfied, craving what you cannot call by name because you don’t know what it is.

Just as food satisfies physical hunger, sustaining life, and human touch satisfies our soul hunger for connection, bringing us life, there is a hunger deeper than both of these – a spiritual hunger that our Creator alone can satisfy in us.  And He promises in Matthew 5:6 that He will fill our spirits, that we will not go hungry.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.’ ”   (John 6:35)

“The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.  . . .  You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”  (Psalm 145:13, 16)

I love these promises of God saying that He will meet the needs of my spiritual hunger and thirst.  And not just a bare minimum provision does He promise to provide – no, these verses use the words, “be filled”, “never go hungry  . . . never be thirsty” and “satisfy the desires.”   Jesus tells the woman at the well in John 4:13,

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Philippians 4:19 assures me, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus fed the multitude (five thousand) with five loaves of bread and two fish and still there were twelve basketfuls of food left over after everyone had eaten their fill.  The Israelites had manna every morning for forty years without fail.  My Heavenly Father is able to satisfy my physical hunger, my hunger for connectedness and relationship and my deepest spiritual hunger to know Him.

He is a God of abundance and provision.  “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”   (Psalm 16:11)

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  (Psalm 23:1)  I like how the Living Bible translates this verse,  “Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need!”

truly, I will not want – I need not go hungry –

sincerely,         Grace Day