Humans Made to Hunger

"They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Revelation 7:16-17

It's hard to imagine living without hunger or thirst.  Because our bodies need food and water for survival, we have been created to desire what we need.  After the fall of Adam and sin passed to all men, our desires have been tainted by sin.  Instead of drinking for the health of the body we have descended into drunkenness, and our appetites have led us to gluttony and all manner of excess.  Even though it is not a sin to eat or drink, after we are glorified in heaven we will no longer hunger or thirst.  We will be able to eat and drink but it will be voluntarily, not out of necessity.

When God created man, He created man without sin.  Yet in His wisdom, God saw fit to create man with a hunger and thirst within him.  Adam experienced a physical hunger and thirst.  But it went far deeper than that.  Adam hungered for love, acceptance, and companionship.  Adam and Eve both longed for knowledge and significance - before they chose to sin.  In trying to satisfy their hunger with the fruit from the forbidden tree, they hungered to be as God.  After their willful rebellion against God, man's insatiable hunger has continued to gnaw at him continually.  Man lusts after control, power, possessions, honour, and everything else the world can offer.  These are all deceptive foods.  All of what we hunger and thirst after in this world is actually found in a relationship with the Living God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Humans hunger and thirst by design.  Unlike brute beasts, we are not governed by uncontrollable instinct.  God has given us His Word, a conscience, and a will of our own.  We can choose the foods we put in our mouths and the drinks we put to our lips.  We can decide what we will place before our eyes or what we will listen to with our ears.  Above the din of this confused world Jesus says in Isaiah 55:1-3:  "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. ³ Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- the sure mercies of David."  Jesus is the giver of Living Water, water that will quench all thirst for eternity.  Jesus is the Bread of Life, bread that if a man eats he will live forever.  All our hunger and our thirst can be swallowed up in the satisfaction and contentment found only in God.

John 6:35 records this truth so we might read, believe, and receive:  "And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."  You were made to hunger and thirst.  Find satisfaction and rest in Christ!