Delicious Food Leaves Me Hungry
I love to cook. In the United States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I get to express my love for cooking and my love for people by cooking a feast for 18 in my family!
I also love to watch the Food Network. This is one of the ways that I find rest, relaxing in front of the TV and unwinding from life and ministry as gifted chefs go to work. I find it peaceful, but it’s also educational.
I have learned so much about the plants and animals that God created and have implemented much of it as I try to recreate my own beautiful, tasty, and satisfying meals.
I love that God has blessed us with such a wide variety of things to eat. The world he has created is a wonderful banquet table, which we are reminded of over Thanksgiving.
Perhaps it is my love for the culinary arts that helps me appreciate the beauty of the word pictures in Isaiah 55:
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Thanksgiving, or any holiday or major banquet of a meal, is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the gospel truths found in Isaiah 55. Yes, enjoy the food and celebrate the glory and creativity of God in creation, but preach the gospel to yourself, too.
God knows that people are spiritually hungry. People are constantly looking for life and for peace and satisfaction of heart. God has wired this spiritual hunger into us, so that it would drive us to him.
This Isaiah 55 passage is a gracious invitation to the spiritually hungry and thirsty to come to the one and only place where your heart can be filled. The physical things of this earth are not designed to satisfy your spiritual hunger. The most wonderful experiences or relationships or possessions in this life will not fill your heart.
So, with a tender and compassionate heart, God says, “Come to me. I have prepared for you the one
meal that will fill and satisfy that hunger in your heart. And, best of all, you don’t have to pay for the food I give you—it’s free!”
Then he asks the question of questions: “Why would you work hard for and spend money on what cannot satisfy?”
People do this every day. At great cost and with hard work, people run after and consume things that will never satisfy the hunger that drives them.
What about you? As you sit at the Thanksgiving table tomorrow, ask yourself: “At what created table do I sit, hoping that my hungry heart will be satisfied by creation, when it can only be satisfied by an intimate relationship with my Creator?”
The Lord’s invitation to you is to come to him, eat from the banquet of his grace, and live. What he offers is free, because the Son has paid the cost.
May we come again and again to the only One who has the bread that will satisfy our hearts!
P.S. – Isaiah 55 is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, so I have written and preached on it for many years. This particular Wednesday’s Word, however, has been adapted from my new book, Everyday Gospel.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday this weekend, you might be in gift-buying mode, so can I encourage you to consider gifting Everyday Gospel to others this Christmas? This daily devotional follows a Bible-in-a-year reading plan, making it a perfect gift for those who want to start a new Scripture study on January 1!
A Prayer for Today: Lord, I want to admit my spiritual hunger. In this season of the year, it’s so incredibly tempting to try and alleviate my hunger by running to things that will only leave me more hungry in life. Would you take the hunger you’ve wired into me and focus it so that it drives me straight to you? I don’t want to run after worthless idols that I initially think will satisfy me when the only true source of satisfaction is found in you. Help me to search for you when I find myself spiritually hungry, and would you meet me when those moments arrive? In Jesus’ perfect name, amen.
God bless,
Paul Tripp
Discussion Prompt for Children:
• When you’re really hungry, what do you want to fill up on? Why do we need good food to help us be healthy people instead of junk food?
• When you are dissatisfied with life, what kinds of “junk foods” do you often look for to get rid of your spiritual hunger? How do those junk foods end up making you feel?
• What do you think it looks like for us to go to spiritually nutritious foods in life instead of other places?
Reflection Questions
1. Why do you think it’s so easy for us to work hard and spend money on things that can never satisfy us? Where do you think the hunger that drives you in life comes from? Does that hunger point you in a specific direction? Where?
2. What created table are you tempted to sit at, hoping that your hungry heart will be satisfied by specific creation? If you have “sat at that table” before, how has it left you empty instead of filled?
3. What does God’s invitation to sit at his table and eat look like for you on a day-to-day basis? Why do you think it’s so difficult to sit at the Lord’s table and eat when he promises to satisfy you? Why do you think it’s so easy to sit at other tables that will never fully satisfy you?
4. Why is God’s offer to sit and eat at his table free for you? Take some time right now and express your thankfulness to God for how he has paid the cost for you to sit at his table. With a heart full of gratitude, list all the ways he has blessed you and cared for you and don’t be afraid to go on and on about the ways God has been a giver to you by his grace!