Thoughts on Scripture

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The connection between the beatitudes become clearer as we read through the list of those whom Jesus calls blessed. The first beatitude speaks of a spiritual poverty where we realize how far we fall short from God‘s glorious standard and realize the true condition of our souls. We then move on to the second beatitude where we are blessed as we mourn our weak spiritual condition. We become meek as we realize the truth about ourselves and we extend the same kindness we have received towards others who struggle just as we do.

As we become aware of our shortcomings and we realize that we are are far from the perfect standard of God’s righteousness, a hunger and thirst for this righteousness fills our soul. Not everyone hunger and thirst for righteousness. In Proverbs 4, King Solomon alludes to the fact that the wicked also hunger and thirst for something, and it is not righteousness. “They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” (Proverbs 4:17). He also says they lose sleep as they devise their plans to harm someone or make someone fall. The thought of peace bothers them and gives them insomnia. Therefore, the fact that we can hunger and thirst for righteousness is a blessing from God. However, there is a danger in this. We may become so zealous in our desires for righteousness that we may make the mistake of trying to achieve righteousness by attempting to keep the law perfectly. It is not long, however, before we realize that in our own strength we can never achieve this.

Our failure to measure up to God’s standards may initially fill our spirit with despair and we are humbled by our weakness. But this is exactly where Jesus steps in and shows that He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Paul had a very clear understanding of this principle when he wrote to the Galatians, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). Therefore, we may say with Paul that the life we live in this body we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (v.20).

Apart from the fact that we are blessed as we hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus attaches another promise to this beatitude: “They will be filled.” God said through the Psalmist Asaph, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10b) and again through His prophet Isaiah, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” (Isaiah 55:2). God will keep His promise and those that hunger and thirst for righteousness will feast on the abundance of God’s house; He gives them drink from His river of delights. For with Him is the fountain of life; in His light do they see light. (Psalm 36:8-9).

Therefore then, it soon becomes clear to us that the righteousness God fills us with is not our own; it is the righteousness of Christ. It is imputed to us as a gift by grace through faith in Christ. We cannot work for it. God addresses this tendency in us to want to work for righteousness when He speaks through Isaiah: “Why spend your money on what is not bread” (Why pay for something that will not fill your soul when I offer you righteousness for free?) “Why spend…your labor on what does not satisfy?” (Why are you working so hard while it brings you no lasting satisfaction? Come to me and I will give you rest). Paul made it clear that Abraham was declared righteous by faith and not by works (see Romans 4).The same applies to us as Paul concludes this portion by saying that the righteousness credited to Abraham was not for him alone, “but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness -for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Romans 4:24)

Hunger and thirst are among the very basic of human needs. When we are hungry and thirsty, everything else becomes of lesser importance. When we desire righteousness in this way; in a way where all other things become less important, we will not be disappointed. “They will be filled.”

Related Articles

• We Cannot Enter the Kingdom of God by Playing Church (jesuscarriesme.wordpress.com)
• Eric Simpson: Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Will be Filled (huffingtonpost.com)
• Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst (provocativechristian.wordpress.com)
• The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (thoughtsonscripture.com)