Key verse: Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Read: 2 Kings 7:3-10
A wise man once said lack of water to drink may bring about insanity as the kidneys would source water from any part of the body including the brain when there is dehydration. No wonder desert dwellers often have mental issues. This suggests that a person so dehydrated is so thirsty and would be willing to do anything to quench his thirst. So is the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Righteousness is a state of living right before God. To live right is to love: love God and love your neighbor. But by the nature of man after the fall, it is difficult for a man to live right because, as it was discovered, the heart of man became desperately wicked after the fall of Adam. Wickedness is a pole distance from love.
For a man to live righteously therefore, he needs to make a concerted effort to overcome the wickedness of his heart. He must resist always to do the dictates of his flesh but strive to do that which is right. Though there be draught of love in the human heart, they that strive to act out love despite the position of the heart are those that thirst after righteousness. This state is however attainable through the help of the spirit as against the flesh. The four leprous men in our reading, by the dictates of society, were outcasts. They were banished from living among the people. But by some special providence of God, while there was famine in the land due to the siege brought against it by the Syrian army, they were the source through which surplus came. The ordinary dictate of the heart would be “they had cast us out and therefore we have no business with them.” Rather than do that, they allowed love in their hearts and announced freedom and abundance for all to thrive on. They thirsted after righteousness. David was sought by Saul to kill. Twice, Saul became vulnerable but David refused to strike him saying “why lay my hand on God’s anointed?” He let him live because of his thirst for righteousness.
What is it that man has done to buffet you? Think not of the man but of God and therefore love him still. Don’t do anything against anyone that is against the mind of God. Be in constant pursuit of righteousness: God’s promise is that you will be filled. Yes, filled with blessing and righteousness. Soon people will wonder if you are human.
Pray:
Father, help me to pursue righteousness always that I may be filled in Jesus name.
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