In Matthew 4, we read that Jesus celebrated the beginning of His earthly ministry with a forty day fast. Not forty minutes. Not forty hours. Forty days. No food from the sunrise of day number one until the sunrise of day number forty-one...or something very close to that.
On day forty, Satan slithered up to Jesus and suggested that Jesus do something seemingly innocent and certainly within Christ's ability -- turn some rocks into rolls. At this point in Christ's life, He had yet to perform His first miracle. It probably would have felt nice to finally unleash some of His miraculous power. It probably would have tasted great to pop in a nice, warm piece of bread. It definitely would have been nice to finally give that famished stomach some relief. It probably would have been nice to feel the energy that comes from the nourishment of food. No doubt, Jesus was hungry!
But He was more hungry for God. His greatest hunger was to obey God, for it was the Spirit that led him into the wilderness to fast. He longed to resist the temptation of Satan more than to relish the short-lived pleasures of self-gratification. The sounds from His stomach were drowned out by the high calling of His Father to learn sacrifice for His glory. I'm sure Jesus would have loved to face His greatest enemy in the face and show off His superior rank by a miraculous act of God. But as John Piper put it, "Jesus hungered more for God and God's will than he did for God's wonders."1
After forty days with no food, Jesus still hungered more for God than He did for food. Yet we live as though we might die if we go one day without food, one day without television, one day without facebook, one day without our lover, one day without ___________ (fill in the blank).
May we become a people who crave the sweet presence of the Lord in our lives more than anything else. Like Jesus, may we say that "[our] food is to do the will of [the Father]." -- John 4:34
1 - John Piper, A Hunger For God, pg. 60
