September 13 Hunger for God

Revelation 6:5-6 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
 
IN succession, each of the four living creatures known as the seraphim, first introduced in chapter 5, call out a horse and its rider to initiate violence upon the earth. God’s vision to John continues to become more grim as it moves from conquest, to war’s bloodshed and now to famine.
    The food cost mentioned here would be 10-15 times above normal to John’s first-century readers. A day’s wages would buy food for one person, but there would be no food for any family member.
    Here is the price of mankind’s sin. The Bible informs us of many famines and sieges among God’s people throughout the ages. Sin brought God’s judgment on his people centuries ago, and sin is the reason for God’s judgment on us now and into the future. We see in our own culture and cultures of the world today that many people are hungry. Some even live without food for days. This is very often the pain from sinful habits perpetrated in households, communities and nations. We see this consistently in our work throughout the world. Rejecting God’s laws is a sure reason for physical starvation.
    This hunger and deprivation is not God’s will, his desire, for his people. Very clearly, he spoke long ago that obedience to his law is a key to peaceful and prosperous living. Listen to the Lord God’s promise in Deuteronomy 11:13 “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today — to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul — then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”
    Then hear his warning: Deut 11:16 “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain, and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.”
    Then be of faith in his gracious command: Deut 11:18 “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”
    Again, hear his promise: Deut 11:22 “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow — to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him — 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.”  
    What do you choose? Starvation or plenty? Sin or Salvation?
 
Prayer: Lord God, I pray I obey your commands and help others to see the joy of living in your true Word. You are the Bread of Life. Amen.