Hunger for the Word of God

With Thanksgiving just a couple days away, I’ve been thinking about what I’m most thankful for this year. What came to mind almost immediately is a man at my church who recently came to faith in Christ. Since then, he has shown a strong desire for the Word of God.

In the Sunday school class that I teach, we had recently finished a series and were ready to embark on a new study. When I asked the group to let me know if there was a particular book of the Bible they wanted to study, this new brother said he wanted to study Romans, which we’ve been doing now for a few weeks. After our class studied and discussed Romans 1, he wrote, “This makes me long for our next study [class] together.” After our most recent class (studying Romans 5), he wrote some specific things he had learned in that chapter. Like everyone, I appreciate words of encouragement, but truly, one of the things that makes this Sunday school class “go” is the wonderful discussion that always ensues, and that is very largely due to my brothers and sisters in the class.

As I thought about my brother’s hunger for God’s Word, I thought of three other individuals. One of them is a sister at our church who came to faith in Christ a few years back. In various contexts and various ways, she has expressed that same hunger for God’s Word. One notable example is at a couple’s fellowship that my wife and I are also a part of. The leader had said that we were running out of time one evening in our Bible study, and this sister said, “Oh, I would be fine with continuing!”

A third person who came to mind is a student I had about forty years ago while I was teaching in a Third World country. She had recently come to faith in Christ, and after a brief dry spiritual period, she wrote, “My hunger for the Word is greater than you can imagine.”

A fourth person is a friend of my wife from many years ago. Lisa had recently become a Christian and asked my wife if she could teach her something about the Bible. She attended church regularly and was part of a Bible study that my wife also attended. Even as a new believer, Lisa had a lot of insights into the Bible.

In addition to these four individuals, a large group of people came to mind: believers living in the country(side) of the same Third World country that my wife and I taught in many years ago. There were not many open churches at that time, but they were always very crowded on Sunday mornings, including by believers who got up very early (4:00-5:00 A.M.) in order to get there in time for the beginning of the service. And even so, they sometimes had to sit in pews or on chairs that extended out the open side of the building–if they got a seat at all. This is one primary reason why my wife and I did not attend more than once: two people would give up their seats for us, no matter how hard we tried to refuse. (Our fellowship was with other expatriates in the city.)

Another example of this spiritual hunger is the same large group of believers. During those years, itinerant preachers would go to villages in the country(side); they would stay for a couple days in a given community before moving on. We heard stories about how they would preach hour after hour, sometimes for essentially a whole day, and the villagers would soak it in. Some of them were presumably not believers, but it didn’t seem to matter in terms of their interest.

There are some verses in the Bible that speak to this kind of strong spiritual hunger. One of them is Jeremiah 15:16: “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.” Another example is Psalm 119:103, which says, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” Here’s what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:2-3, clearly referring to believers who are very young in their faith: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” On the other hand, for those who are more mature in the faith, the writer of Hebrews says (in Chapter 5:14), “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

One thing you may have noticed regarding the four individuals I wrote about is this: all of them were new believers at the time they expressed their hunger for God’s Word. And in fact, all of them came from non-Christian environments. In contrast, I grew up in a Christian household and went to church twice every Sunday; I also went to Christian schools (grades 1-12 plus my first four years of college). However, I didn’t become a Christian until age 20, and I didn’t read the Bible the whole way through for the first time until I was 26. I remember thinking again and again as I was reading, “I remember that story!” I’m thankful for the spiritual upbringing I had, and I am so thankful that over the years, I have had so many of my big questions answered. I can’t say I have ever had the kind of intense hunger for God’s Word that these brothers and sisters have expressed, but I do enjoy studying God’s Word.

For those of you reading this who are my brothers and sisters in Christ: Regardless of where you are in your walk with Him, may you never stop reading God’s Word and growing in Him; may the same be true of me. And for you who do not know Christ, I pray that you will read God’s Word and discover what we believers have discovered: God’s Word is true, and therefore, He can be trusted. He will give you the kind of peace and joy that Romans 5 describes.

Have a most wonderful Thanksgiving with the ones you love!