Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount begins with a series of Beatitudes, a series of statements that begin with “Blessed are…” These may be seen as a random collection of sayings, but I think they are in an intentional sequence. Not a sequence where we need to master the first Beatitude before learning the second, but like gears in a machine that all need to work together for the machine to function, and weakness in one place affects the entire machine. Jesus was explaining specific parts of becoming more like Him.
The first three Beatitudes tell us that we are blessed if we are “poor in spirit” because we know to depend on God to know right and wrong, that we are blessed for being “those who mourn” because we feel the pain caused by sin in the world (both our own sin, and sin collectively), and know God will comfort us, and that we are blessed for being “meek”[1] when we submit willingly to God’s direction, knowing it is better than following our own spirit and better than adding to the negative impact of sin on this world.
Then we get to the fourth Beatitude in Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” How does this follow from the first three? The idea of “hunger and thirst” provides the answer.
No matter how much we eat or drink, hunger and thirst return after time. Therefore, no amount is ever enough, and true righteousness is like that. After one, or even several, instances of meekness, or submission to Christ’s righteousness, we can’t stop and then go about our own way. It isn’t enough to satisfy God’s righteousness standard. We need to have an ongoing appetite for it that is never fully satisfied. It needs to be part of our very nature to desire ongoing spiritual nourishment from following Christ. If we “taste and see that the LORD is good”[2] we should want more!
We naturally know that if we do not eat, our bodies decay – but first we feel hunger and thirst – driving us to eat and drink. But it is less obvious that if we do not come to God regularly for sustenance, our souls decay. If we do not indulge our appetite for righteousness, we revert to thinking our spirit is strong, that sin has no negative consequences, and that God’s authority can be disregarded. We will not find the kingdom of God, be comforted, or inherit the earth, as the first three Beatitudes promise. However, every time we come to God we are reminded of the splendor of His kingdom, the comfort of His salvation, and the inheritance we have in Paradise, which surpasses anything this world has to offer. Walking with the Spirit is like food and water to our soul, bringing us “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”[3]
The sons of Korah wrote at the beginning of Psalm 42:
“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.”
Yearning like this for righteousness does not come naturally to any of us, but God promises if we follow our spiritual appetite, we learn that:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 