My Daily Light reading for this morning included these verses:

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9).

I got to wondering why we don’t hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness more. The answer that came to mind: we’re full of other things. In physical life we can “spoil our dinner” (as my grandma used to say) by filling up with the wrong things; we can develop a taste for junk food and lose our appetite for nourishing meals. We can do that spiritually, too.

This brought to mind a song that some dear friends from PA taught us when they came to live in TX. I’ve never heard it anywhere else. I found the words attributed to Martha Snell Nicholson . It uses a different metaphor but makes the same observation:

One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed:
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth’s highways grieving
In my rags and poverty
Til I heard His voice inviting,
“Lift your empty hands to Me!”

So I held my hands toward Heaven
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches
Til they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull
That God could not pour His riches
Into hands already full.

The rest of the Daily Light reading lists His promises to fill us with His goodness when we do hunger and thirst for Him:

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house (Psalm 65:4).

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst (John 6:35).

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away (Luke 1:53).

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light (Psalm 36:7-9).

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

May we set aside the things that don’t satisfy and seek the One who does.