Remarks From the Reverend

Author’s Note: This is the sixth of a series of

devotionals from Psalm 146.

“Who gives food to the hungry.”

– Psalm 146:7b

In this series of articles from Psalm 146, we are finding that our hope and trust cannot be in a “prince,” or a “son of man” or “we the people.” So we are finding that we need to shift our hope and trust to the Lord God, our Creator, who is also our amazing provider for all our needs, both of body and soul; who “gives food to the hungry.” More importantly, the Lord God satisfies the hunger of people in a way that many people oftentimes don’t consider, when they think of “feeding the hungry.” This will be the focus of this article.

Oftentimes, when we read statements like this we think of the material needs of people; stomachs that are lacking nutrition; people dying of starvation for the lack of physical food to eat. These are people who live in poverty or have fallen on hard times and in need of someone to come along side and help them with their temporal need. In the Bible we are admonished to help those in need, especially those who are in need of food and water, as Jesus commends us to do in Matthew 25:35. Further, are we not also told in 1 John 3:17 that helping a brother in need is evidence that the love of God has been implanted in us by the Holy Spirit? However, this verse goes deeper than helping a person with a temporal need of food, water or even shelter, as important as all that is.

Just as there is a spiritual side to being oppressed; so also, with the Lord God feeding the hungry. Feeding the soul is also a necessary part of life. People can feed their soul with fake processed food; that is, with lies and deceit (lies disguised as truth) that feed a heart that is said to already be “deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). This kind of food never satisfies the soul; and just as with processed food, lies and deceit usually only make a person fat with self-indulgent pride and conceit that never seems to be enough, always yearning for more. However, real food for the hungry soul comes from the Lord God. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The hungry soul can only be satisfied, filled with the true Bread, Jesus Christ, who is the Incarnate Word, as He is revealed in John 1:1, 14; who also refers to Himself as the “Bread of Life” in John 6:35.

It is not physical or temporal bread alone that people need to live; it is the Word of Life that people need. It is Jesus Christ and Him alone that can and does satisfy the hungry soul through the preaching of the Written Word of God, which reveals to us the salvation of God, the Bread of Life to the hungry soul.

Jesus Christ feeds and nourishes the hungry soul with His word of promises, which are recorded for us in the Bible, the inspired, infallible and inerrant word of God. This is the food that satisfies the soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness (Psalm 107:9; Matthew 5:6). This hungry soul is satisfied in feeding on the written word of God; meditating on it and applying it (“consuming it”) by faith as the Holy Spirit works mightily in the person, granting repentance from sin and faith to believe in Jesus Christ; His salvation for sinners, like you and me. The hungry soul is changed to a satisfied soul as the Holy Spirit powerfully renews and strengthens it to live by faith in obedience to God’s commandments and not the commandments of men; doing so with a joyful and a thankful heart. The satisfied soul eagerly feeds daily on the written word of God that comforts the soul that has been delivered from the oppressive power of his or her sin nature that kills the soul, starving it with fake food; lies and deceptions (processed truths – truths corrupted by the lies of men and sold as truths . . . yet, robbed of any nutritional value).

Is your soul hungry for and thirsting after righteousness? Won’t you this day feed on the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Turn from feeding your soul with ‘fake food” to Him who is the true meat and drink that will satisfy your soul, both now and forever. Cry out to Jesus Christ as a poor hungry man does on the street, begging for food, begging for mercy. With a humble heart reach out by faith to Him who is the Bread of Life and he will feed your soul with the forgiveness of your sins, righteousness, salvation and everlasting life.

Jesus Christ alone will satisfy the hungry soul and make it alive by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the word of truth fed upon every day, especially in times of hardship, trials and troubling times. He is the only One to put your hope and trust in, because He’s the only real and true Bread of Life that satisfies the hungry soul.

Rev. Richard Stetler, of Hartley, is the CEO and founder of Reformation Gospel Ministries. Visit http://www.reformationgospelministries.org for more information.