Matthew 5:6 — “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
1. The kingdom to come, when Christ reigns on the earth.
2. The kingdom now, when Christ reigns in the heart.
“I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing; most important thing is my faith.” — Charlie Kirk
See also: Matthew 6:10; Zechariah 14:9
Colossians 1:13 — “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”
I. The of spiritual hunger (Psalm 42:1–2)
The background of Psalm 42
This psalm was written by the sons of Korah. Their ancestor Korah rebelled against Moses and died under God’s judgement (Numbers 16). Yet Scripture records, “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not” (Numbers 26:11). His descendants became doorkeepers and singers in the house of God. The family line of a rebel became a line of worshippers. That is grace.
The psalmist is far from Jerusalem. He writes, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar” (Psalm 42:6). That puts him up north, near Mount Hermon and the headwaters of the Jordan. He has been cut off from the house of God, and he remembers better days, “for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise” (Psalm 42:4). Now his enemies mock him, “while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalm 42:3). He is hungry for God, and the world asks, “Where is thy God?”
Psalm 42:1–2 — “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
A. A of life
Psalm 53:2–3 — “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
B. A of soundness
1 Corinthians 3:1–3 — “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
II. The of spiritual hunger
See also: Psalm 42:1–2, Numbers 16, Numbers 26:11, Psalm 42:6, Psalm 42:4, Psalm 42:3, Isaiah 55:1, Psalm 53:2–3, John 3:19, John 12:32, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 John 5:13, 1 John 3:14, 1 Corinthians 3:1–3
2 Peter 3:18 — “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he cried out, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).
Matthew 6:33 — “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
“The more we are satisfied with His righteousness, the more we are dissatisfied with our unrighteousness.”
III. The of spiritual hunger
Blessed
Our English word happy comes from hap, meaning chance. Biblical blessedness does not depend on circumstances, but is a deep well-being that comes from God's favour.
A. A present
B. A permanent
Philippians 3:13–14 — “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 17:15 — “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be , when I awake, with thy likeness.”
“A genuine Christian life is characterized by an increasing desire to know God more deeply. This thirst is not a one-time experience but a continual, growing longing that intensifies with time.” — Donald Whitney
The writer of Psalm 94 was not having a quiet day. He looked around and saw the wicked triumphing, the widow and the stranger slain, and men saying, “The LORD shall not see.” He asked the question so many of us have asked: “LORD, how long?”
Then, in the middle of it all, he tells us what was going on inside him. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me.” A multitude is a crowd. I know that crowd. His thoughts were crowding in on him the way worries crowd in on me at night: the what-ifs, the conversations I keep replaying, the fear of what tomorrow will bring.
Notice what he did not say. He did not say the crowd went away. He said, “thy comforts delight my soul.” God did not wait for the noise to stop before He comforted him. His comfort met him right in the middle of it. I find that a great relief, because the noise in my head does not always stop when I ask it to.
I am thankful the Lord does not only comfort us after the trouble is over. Just before this the psalmist said, “When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.” He felt himself slipping, and God’s mercy was already holding him. I have felt my foot slip more times than I would like to admit, and every time His mercy was there first.
So what is crowding your mind this morning? You may not be able to quiet every thought, but you can bring every one of them to the One who is “the rock of my refuge.” Let His Word speak louder than the crowd.
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