You open the refrigerator door, and you stand
there, and you stare inside, and you say there's
nothing to eat. There is food in your home. There's
pasta in the pantry, soup on the shelf, frozen
vegetables, although it's those weird mixed ones
that nobody really likes. There might be a forgotten
TV dinner in the freezer. But what are we really
saying? We're not saying there's actually nothing
to eat. We're saying there's nothing I want to
eat. Nothing easy, nothing immediate, nothing
you just pop in the microwave, nothing that requires
being able to be impatient, right? But sometimes
hunger is not about patience. Sometimes our hunger
is realizing that it's not about absence. It's
about our desire. And that is where Deuteronomy
has taken us. Deuteronomy 8 .3, He humbled you
and let you hunger and fed you with man. God
let them hunger. That is uncomfortable language.
He did not accidentally forget them. He let them
into it. There's real physical hunger in this
world. There are people who truly do not know
where their next meal will come from. So when
we say, I'm starving because dinner is delayed,
we are quietly comparing ourselves to those who
genuinely are in heat. We flatten the difference
as if we are the same. Is it any wonder that
compassion can sometimes feel so thin? because
we have often confused our inconvenience with
actual deprivation. But hunger, even small hunger,
it actually does something to the mind and the
body. It may sharpen our attention. It may clear
away distractions. It can even force awareness.
Psalm 107 -9 says he satisfies the longing soul
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Physical hunger reminds us we are not sustaining
ourselves. We are creatures, which means we have
a creator. We need daily bread. And when we truly
are in need, if and when that does happen, there
are ways that we seek help. We know how to ask,
how to search, how to receive with those that
we know love us. but it also reminds us to ask,
to search, and to receive from the God who is
truly over all things. That posture is not weakness.
That is vulnerability with God about the reality
of our life. But you see, it's not just about
our souls. It's about our whole life. Notice
the Gospels switch from those who are hungry
to those who thirst and hunger for righteousness.
Because we, as people, we do hunger for purpose.
We hunger for joy. We hunger for love. We hunger
to matter. To know we have a reason to be. Jesus
says in Matthew 5 -6, Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be satisfied. Notice He does not shame hunger.
He blesses us. But what are we actually hungry
for? How often is it that we are actually hungry
for a deeper life, and how much is it that we're
actually just wanting to upgrade? When we say
that we lack fulfillment, but often what we mean
is that we lack the version of life that we would
prefer. The vacations we want, the recognition
we hope for, the security we long for, the comfort
we cling to. Those things are not evil, but they're
not ultimate They're not the point Sometimes
we face a wilderness season where they are not
readily available Where our career stalls recognition
fades in excitement dims Where every day we wake
up and see the same dresser and the same nightstand
I wonder if anything will ever change the wilderness
is a place where what we thought would satisfy
us does not. Here's the danger, is that when
we are hungry, we oftentimes we go to the first
fast food place that's right there, but it's
not just in regard to McDonald's or KFC. When
we are hungry in our soul, we grab for the first
drive -through that meets our spirit. Achievement,
control, scrolling. comparing ourselves to others,
even our religious performance can do so. Israel
was grumbling, Adam was grasping, and we try
to manage life. But Deuteronomy says God let
them hunger so that they would learn something,
not about how strong they are. But that man does
not live by bread alone. But by every word that
comes from the mouth of the Lord, you see, hunger
exposes what we depend on. And at moments like
that, maybe we should also say man should not
live by bread alone. But you see, we hunger not
just for ourselves, not just the physical hunger,
not just the cravings for life around us, but
often we may hunger for the world. We hunger
for justice. We hunger for fairness, for righteousness,
for healing in broken systems. Micah 6, 8, He
has told you, O man, what is good and what does
the Lord require of you. But to do justice, to
love kindness, to walk humbly with your God,
we see what is wrong. We feel the ache. We long
for things to be set right. But even here, we
need to ask. Are we seeking God's righteousness?
Are we actually seeking our preferred version
of it? It's easy to champion causes that cost
us very little. Wear the t -shirt, hold the mug.
It's harder to examine the small injustices that
are in our own hearts. We want equality in the
world, but do we practice humility in our homes?
We want righteousness in our institutions, but
do we hunger for righteousness in what we say?
World hunger can turn into outrage without repentance.
It turns to outrage when we ourselves do not
have repentance. Because the wilderness is meant
to humble that too. Deuteronomy says he humbled
you. Hunger humbles. It reveals what we can survive
without. what we truly depend on, what actually
satisfies. We notice as we go through hunger,
we see what we can actually survive without.
We realize what we've been depending on that
maybe we shouldn't. And then we look and say,
these are things that actually satisfy. And verse
5, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your
God disciplines you. This is not punishment.
This is formation. It is meant to change us.
The wilderness is not abandonment. It is training.
God did not let Israel hunger to destroy them.
He fed them with manna that they did not expect.
Rather, the wilderness was meant to change them.
Their clothes did not wear out, their feet did
not swell, even in hunger there was preservation.
Let's be honest, after 40 years, I'm sure somebody's
clothing wore out, and I'm sure somebody's feet
swelled up. But the point though, is that even
if that clothing wore out, there was clothing
to replace it. And even for the times when the
feet swelled, you could still pause and rest.
because even in hunger there is preservation.
When Jesus stands in his own wilderness hungry
after 40 days, he quotes this very passage. He
does not deny his hunger. He does not despise
the bread, but rather he refuses to let the hungry
define his identity at that moment or anytime.
He trusts the Father. Where Israel doubted, where
Adam grasped, where we swam. from Christ trusted.
And the one who refused to turn stones into bread
would later say, I am the bread of life. Jesus
not only endured hunger, he became the provision.
It is not just to wait until we find it or wait
until we can make it. It's to realize it is already
ours in the one place it should be. This is not
a sermon. for you to get better coping mechanisms.
It is not a call to make sure you improve yourself
spiritually. It is an invitation to notice your
hunger and bring it honestly before God. Because
in the Lord's Prayer we say, give us this day
our daily bread. Daily. Not yearly. Not lifetime
guarantees. Not whenever we think about it. Daily
dependence. Because sometimes God lets us feel
hunger so we learn to pray. Sometimes we need
to remember we are not self -made and we discover
that our greatest need is not comfort, but communion.
The wilderness is not where God stops speaking.
It is often where we finally start listening.
So you may be hungry later today. May be hungry
in your body You may be hungry in your purpose
Or you may be hungry for the world to be a little
different than it is But that hunger is not proof
that God has abandoned us It may be the very
place where he is teaching us what truly beats
us He let them hunger, but he fed them. He led
his son hunger, but he did not forsake him And
because Christ endured the wilderness faithfully,
our hunger does not end in emptiness. It ends
at a table. A table where bread and wine are
given, not earned by us, but given by the cross.
In Jesus' name.