Day 17. Spiritual Hunger
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"He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent away empty." Luke 1:53
A great many people attend church and Sunday school, where the blessings of grace abound — and yet are "sent away empty." They are not fed. They do not carry anything with them from all the fullness before them. They are no better, no stronger, no happier — for all the privileges they have enjoyed. Is it the minister's or the teacher's fault? No; the fault must be their own. They were not really hungry — or they would have been filled.
A lady was ill with tuberculosis. She was advised to go to Florida to spend the winter. She wrote home glowing letters about the healthy climate, the wonderful foliage, the luscious fruits. While it was midwinter at her old home in the North — it was like summer where she was. She spoke of the table — how it was covered with all manner of tempting fruits. But in every letter she wrote there was one sad lament: "I have no appetite. If I only had an appetite, I am sure I would soon grow well amid such luxuries." Then in a little while word came that she was dead — dead in the midst of abounding plenty, not for lack of food — but for lack of appetite.
So it is with many souls. They live amidst abundance of spiritual provision. God spreads full tables before them continually. They sit down besides them — and then are sent away empty; not because there is nothing there for them — but because they have no hunger for such things. Others sit close by them, at the same tables, with the same provisions before them — and are richly fed, and go away rejoicing in strength and hope, and refreshed in all their nature; but these came with spiritual appetite. Our constant prayer should be that God would make us hungry for Himself. The beatitude is, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness — for they shall be filled."
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