08 Feb Weekly Reflection: Hungry for More
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains
of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own
flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear…”
-Isaiah 58:6-8
Lent is for the hungry. And since you are reading this devotional, I imagine you are hungry — hungry for more of God.
In this season of fasting, reflection, and repentance, God longs to restore your heart and fill you with refreshment. This is an invitation to every hungry soul: Draw near to the heart of God in this season, and while you are there look around at who else is huddled in close to Him.
Who is close to the heart of God? We see God reminding His people again and again that He wants them to live lives characterized by justice and righteousness, to care for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, to be family to the fatherless, to uplift the broken-hearted. These are the ones close to God’s heart.
During Lent, the global Church remembers our beloved Savior, bowed down with grief under the weight of a cross and the sin of the world as He carries His burden up a mountain where He will be left to die. We walk through the shadows of Lent into the light of Easter-morning resurrection! Together we stand in awe and gratitude for this sacrifice that grants us life!
Rice & Beans Month is a beautiful way to participate in the story of the Gospel as we choose this simple fast in order to share with the hungry. As you stir your pot of beans at dinnertime and enjoy a warm bowl of rice with your community, may your heart be refreshed in God’s great love. Thank Him for His work in the world, pray for your brothers and sisters in East Africa, and ask God to satisfy their hunger. Ask God to meet you on this journey, to transform your heart, and to satisfy your hunger too. Lent is for the hungry. Come!
Merciful God, as we journey together through Lent, may our decision to eat simply on behalf of the vulnerable unite us with the global Body of Christ. We lay our hunger before you, trusting you to fill us up. Thank you for being enough to meet all of our needs, and for sharing out of your abundance so that we are able to give. Amen.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
As we begin Rice & Beans Month together, here are a few more scriptures to meditate on throughout the week.
Acts 3:19-21
James 4:6-10
Matthew 25:31-46
James 1:26-27
Matthew 9:13