How many hours can we last before we reach a famished state?

Seven days, a full week?  Could we go this entire week without nourishment? Would we?

What about fourteen days, a week times two? Would we last that long without breakfast, lunch, and dinner?  Would we willingly keep our body from taking in food for two weeks?

What about twenty-one days.  That’s a really long span of time. 21 days x 24 hours per day=504 hours?  Could we (seriously) last five hundred and four hours without starving to death?  Would we even try?

Then there’s a full month, a month of thirty-one days.  What about a normal month of days plus nine more days for an even forty days without nourishment?   Could we last that long without starving to death?

Sometimes, we say to one another, “I am starving to death,” and quite frankly, in the time from breakfast until our noon meal, we can become starved.

Thankfully, we can enjoy food, at least three times a day, and sometimes, we even enjoy a daily graze of possibly six meals throughout a twenty-four hour period.

So, it makes me wonder, if we listen to the internal rumbles of our stomach, then why don’t we pay as much attention to the internal rumblings of our eternal soul?  &

Why would we allow our eternal soul to remain famished, depriving ourselves of Scripture reading, starving ourselves to the point of becoming famished from God’s sustaining Word?

Many years ago, Grandma Hall told me a really funny story, and maybe the details were not as funny as the WAY Grandma told the story because she was a master storyteller. Grandma Hall left this world on March 3rd, and never will I be able to retell the story as she, but for the sake of today’s analogy, please hang with me a minute more as I try.

Imagine a tiny church in rural, flat Indiana, see a couple (a younger Grandma and Grandpa Hall) sitting on a pew, and hear a rumbling of a hungry stomach.  We know the sound.  Whenever our stomach rumbles in a crowded, noisy room, we then wonder if maybe the person beside us hears our stomach”s rumble.  Yes, oftentimes, another person close to us will turn our way and say, “Are you a bit hungry?”

Grandma Hall recalled how in the quietness of that funeral service that summer day, the rumble of hunger within grandpa’s stomach roared like a hungry lion. 
So, go with me (back to the funeral service), see grandpa lean over to grandma and hear him say, “Mae, do you have any mints?” as another rumble formed and roared within his hungry stomach.  Now, if we know anything about the body, then we know that a “taste” of food (a small mint) will not suffice. The roar will only become louder, more ferocious as time elapses. Grandma Hall told us this story, and clearly this retelling of her funny story is not the same, but let it suffice to say that by the time the minister had finished speaking the funeral message, Grandpa Hall had eaten every mint possible from grandma’s purse, and he was considering asking those who sat near him if they (too) carried (hopefully) a hamburger, a P&J sandwich, or even a package of Jerry’s Restaurant snack crackers inside their purses.

Hunger.

It’s a POWERFUL FORCE to be reckoned with, &

We like to keep the hunger tamed each day by feeding and not fasting because we NEVER wish to ever reach the point of FAMISHED. Now, maybe you are thinking, how can the hunger we feel inside our bodies ever connect to God.

Jesus is the Son of God. IT IS A FACT.

Jesus is the Son of Man. IT IS A FACT.

As Jesus is both (God and man), HE knows firsthand the way our bodies feel starved when we deny our stomachs the fulfillment of food. &

Jesus knows that withholding food from our stomachs will cause us to make rash decisions.

Satan knows that too. &

So, the devil was right there, present with Jesus when Jesus allowed Himself to go into the wilderness to face the temptation by the devil.

Jesus knew His human body would suffer with the pangs of hunger because HE allowed His earthly body to fast forty days without food.

The devil ALWAYS goes after our weakest spot to entice us, to tempt us.  In fact, the Bible says that we  should “Be of sober spirit, [and] be on the alert. [Because] Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But [we are to] resist him, [and to stand] firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of sufferings are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5: 8-11).

Jesus placed Himself into the wilderness. 

Jesus allowed Himself to become tempted.

Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

Jesus became hungry.

Jesus met the tempter (the devil) who came to Jesus and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4: 3).
BUT JESUS reveals to us, even then, in that weakest moment, even while Jesus (the Son of Man) is hungry, that food we place within our mouth is CLEARLY NOT the only nourishment we need.

“But He” [Jesus] responded when HE faced the devil, the adversary.  “HE answered and said [to the devil], ‘It is written, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD‘ ” (Matthew 4:4).

Jesus knows our temptations because God the Father sent His Son, Jesus to the world as a babe in a manger.

Jesus knows what it means to be hungry, thirsty, tired, angry, sad, and disappointed.

Jesus knows us in our weak human limitations.

Jesus is the Son of Man.
But Jesus is also the Son of God. 

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

Jesus knows the hunger of our spiritual soul.

Jesus knows we need to feast daily upon food (bread) &

Jesus knows we need to feast daily upon the Word of God.

That’s why Jesus faced the devil with Scripture from the Old Testament by quoting Moses when he spoke to the Israelites who were starving in the wilderness.

“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8: 2-3).

Why would we ever starve our eternal soul of the nourishment we so need?

Why would we ever choose to not Feed DAILY on GOD’S nourishing Word?

Why would we EVER face the devil hungry [for God’s Word], and unprepared to meet our adversary [the devil]?

WHY would we EVER willingly face this ferocious roaring lion, knowing he wishes to devour us? &

WHY would we EVER try to face the devil in our own power?

Grandpa Hall tried to consume every mint stored inside Grandma Hall’s purse that summer day, and yet, he remained famished until he could eat a hearty lunch after the end of the funeral service.

We can begin today to feast upon God’s Word—-BEFORE we walk outside our homes and into this world.
Rather than continuing to deny our bodies the spiritual nourishment we so need, Let us today feast upon God’s Word.

Let us take in God’s every Scripture into our being, &

Let us become SATISFIED, FULLY FILLED, and READY to walk through this one day we have been given.
The devil (our adversary) would love to devour us.

Never doubt that fact!!!

BUT, as children of God, the devil can NEVER devour our eternal soul!!!

So, let us feed upon God’s Word EVERY DAY so the devil cannot devour our witness.

Let us pull up to God’s table, & let us feast upon God’s Word.