Do you by experience know what it is to be hungry? Surely the answer from nearly everyone is, Yes. Next in experience is the pleasant, gratifying feeling of eating and being filled and satisfied, wanting no more. The desire to eat and be filled is analyzed this way in Prov. 16:2626He that laboreth laboreth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him. (Proverbs 16:26): "He that laboreth, laboreth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him." In Solomon's next book, Ecclesiastes, we learn more: "All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled." Eccl. 6:77All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. (Ecclesiastes 6:7).
The natural life is sustained with food and we cannot live without it. As in the natural, so it is in the spiritual. That which sustains our souls is the Word of God. Job had the correct inner longing when he remarked, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Job 23:12.
The first article in this month's Christian Treasury tells us of the amazing fact that we have a spiritual appetite that increases as we feed it. We cannot eat too much. We do not become too full and uncomfortable, but rather, as we learn of Him who is revealed in God's Word we find that "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Psa. 107:99For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9).
No doubt it is more like our mother's home cooking instead of the school lunch that many will have beginning this month of September. "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psa. 34:88O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8). What God supplies for our souls is always good. It never varies like our daily material food which sometimes is good and sometimes not.
Many of us would be delighted if we could sit down at a table full of our favorite foods and just keep on eating, but we cannot. Our stomachs will not allow us to do that. What a contrast to the enjoyment of spiritual food which has no limits, and the result of enjoying spiritual food is always good with pure contentment.
For all of us who are parents, may we have the loving care for our children that is expressed in the poem Birthday Cake on page 250 of this issue.
C. Buchanan
Thy words were found, and I did
eat them; and word was unto
me the joy and rejoicing of mine
heart: for I am called by Thy
name, O Lord God of hosts.