Hunger for God's Word

Experienced drinkers say that sampling Scotch whiskey only occasionally won't give you a refined taste for it. Neither will merely perusing Scripture occasionally give you a taste for God’s word, much less a hunger. Hungering for God's Word implies being "consumed with a longing" for it, like the psalmist (Ps 119:20), or "treasuring his words more than daily bread," like Job (Jb 23:12).

Hungering God's Word leads to "eating" it—not literally, of course (although the Old Testament prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah did exactly this, as did John in the book of Revelation: see Ezekiel 3:1-3; Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 109-10), but by devouring it with our minds and hearts. The effects of spiritually eating, digesting, and assimilating the Word are reflected in John Flavel's observation: "Only by devouring the Scriptures can one discover the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering and the most comfortable way of dying."

Do you hunger for God's word? Or do you simply admire it from a distance? Clever TV commercials for food can be quite entertaining, even for people who aren't hungry. Artistically displayed buffets can be admired even by those who have no appetite. Likewise, God's Word can be appreciated by some who do not really hunger for it. But the Bible is not simply to be admired from afar. It should to us what the star was to the wise men. If we merely gaze at it, observe it, and admire its splendor without being led to Christ by it, its very will be vitiated.

To calibrate your hunger for God's Word, try this test: If you were positive that you would never be able to obtain another Bible, how much would you sell yours for? Ten dollars? A million? Ten million? Would you clutch it as desparately as a starving person would clutch the last morsel of bread he needed to keep him alive? The intensity of your hunger for Scripture will reflect to a great extent the power you derive from it to solve your daily problems.

This excerpt is from the book The Art of Loving God by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications, 1995. This and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.