Lord, Make Me Hungry

Hunger is different here.

In America I am hardly ever face to face with hunger. I eat three (more like five) meals a day, and if I drive on the right roads I could go weeks without seeing a hungry person.

Not here. On Saturday we visited Children’s Hope Chest in Addis Kettema, Hawasa. We heard about how the organization empowers impoverished children to thrive physically and spiritually. On Sunday we visited Manna Orphanage in Wondo Genet. These children are well taken care of, but they do know hunger and suffering in a way that I just flat out don’t.

Yet, oh what a joy to see their smiles and delight in their laughter as we played soccer, sang songs together (across languages!), and did “magic tricks” for 45 minutes even though they no longer fooled them after two attempts. How sweet it was to trade the names of our body parts by repetition in both English and Amharic. “Nose”–”Nose.” “Asphincha”–”Asphincha.” The best moments were figuring out which sounds the other person simply could not make with their voice (like a popping “q” in Amharic or the “th” sound in English. Another little girl invented Anglo-Amharic by making english words plural with Amharic endings: “Mouth”—”Moufoch.”

These children know hunger and suffering in a way that I just don’t. Yet this physical hunger allows them to know hunger in other ways greater than me as well. They are hungry for relationship. They are hungry for personal connection. They are hungry for love and acceptance. My prayer is that this hunger will lead them to find eternal life and satisfaction in Jesus Christ. May this hunger drive them to Jesus, in whom they will experience the blessing of Luke 6:21: “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.”

I have learned a lot from these children about what it means to be hungry. In America I am hardly ever face to face with hunger, but that means I am also less likely to be face to face with the satisfaction of a long-awaited meal. I am convicted of the many ways that I find cheap satisfaction in places other than Jesus. May their physical hunger and joy in the satisfaction of a spaghetti meal remind me of my spiritual hunger and need for satisfaction in Jesus. “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Ps 107:8–9). Lord, make me hungry for more of you.

Hunger is different here.

We finished our third day of training today, and one of my biggest takeaways so far has been the attitude of the trainees in our course. They are hungry! These pastors, some of whom have been leading churches for decades, are craving these lessons! They arrive each day eager to listen, confidently anticipating that in the Scriptures they will hear from God. They are a living illustration of Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

I have learned much from these pastors and church leaders about what it means to be hungry. In America I often take for granted the wealth of teaching at my fingertips and the opportunities for training and study God has lavished upon me. These church leaders have taught me that to be hungry means to believe wholeheartedly that God is sovereign, wise, and good, and to praise him in song like you believe it! To be hungry means to humbly learn from someone thirty years your junior if they show you truth from the Bible. To be hungry means to earnestly mine the pages of Scripture because you know that they reveal Jesus, and in him is true, genuine, eternal life. Lord, make me hungry for your Word.

Hunger is different here.

As I think about the children we met this weekend I long for their salvation. I long for them to yearn for Jesus with the same desperation as the physical hunger they have faced. I long for the day when all wrong will be made right, and for us together to know the truth of Revelation 7:15–17: “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Lord, make me hungry for your return. Come Lord Jesus, come.

-Josh Bremerman