Blessed are They Who Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness Matthew 5:6
Each beatitude is a reflection of the heart condition of a citizen of God’s kingdom. These eight heart conditions are never ignored in Heaven even though they may be insulted, persecuted, or derided on earth. Those who live them out hold a special place in the engagement of Heaven with the earth. In this blog, we focus on the fourth beatitude:
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6
With the beatitudes, Jesus lays a foundation for every other teaching and miracle that He would perform. Hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied by Heaven and will contribute to spiritual wholeness, stability, and maturity in the Kingdom. It is not a once and for all state of wellbeing but a continuous state of longing for the love, lifestyle, and language of Heaven. A heart condition that cannot be satisfied by mundane, earthly substitutes of pleasure or depleted by earthly pressures.
It is characterized by a deep longing for the life that the Scriptures reveal and Jesus lived out in His humanity. A very powerful lesson captured by Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:2, “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby.”
How has the need for natural food and water played out in human sociological development and how can that help us understand this beatitude better?
1) Hunger and thirst are called general sensations. They cannot be ascribed to a particular sense organ or part of the body.[1] The body unites in sending the message of hunger and thirst! Spiritually, this means that when the spirit is hungry and thirsty, the same goes for the soul and body.
2) Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, identify food and water, sufficient rest, clothing and shelter, overall health, and reproduction as basic physiological needs. A person can only move on to addressing the higher-level needs when these needs are adequately fulfilled. Spiritually, no steady and meaningful growth can take place if the hunger and thirst for righteousness are ignored or substituted with entertainment or idol worship.
3) Health practitioners and dieticians admonish as follow:
Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to grab a drink - stay hydrated to curb cravings, keep you alert, and help digestion.
Listen to your body. Don’t be tempted to reach for whatever snack is in sight at the first sign of “hunger.”
All these help us put Jesus admonition into proper perspective and God’s Word points us to the Source of all satisfaction:
Psalm 107:9 “For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
John 4:14 “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life."
John 7:37 “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”
In Jesus and God’s Word lies the endless provision to satisfy hunger and thirst. However, each person much desires and reach out for Him because nothing else can satisfy.
[1] Schmidt R.F. (1989) Thirst and Hunger: General Sensations. In: Schmidt R.F., Thews G. (eds) Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73831-9_14
