Louise Gevers

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6:27

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  John 6:35

One of the most appealing aromas imaginable is the smell of bread baking, especially on a cold day. We used to live across the road from a bakery and it was always a wonderfully satisfying experience to walk out of the house and breathe in the warm, delicious aroma wafting through the air. It was somehow gratifying just to smell it! But would that smell really have stopped hunger pangs for even a minute? You need the bread itself to satisfy the hunger.

This teaching above came after Jesus had fed five thousand men (not counting the women and children) with five small barley loaves and two fish, and had filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. The people were amazed at what He did, but they had actually failed to understand the significance of the miracle. Through it they should have been pointed to the truth: that Jesus had come from God and that He had the means to give them eternal life. Instead they saw Him only as satisfying their physical hunger, without seeing the deeper truth that He could satisfy their spiritual hunger. Moses had experienced the same with the Israelites in the desert with the manna God had provided. They also did not see more in it than the physical provision of their needs. Would we have been any different to them then? Are we any different to them now?

Is it not true that we all have the tendency to concern ourselves more with our physical needs and neglect, or ignore, our spiritual needs? Is physical hunger more insistent than spiritual hunger or do we just not recognize the signs as readily because we are spiritually indifferent? We are quicker to see the physical than we are to perceive the spiritual. Our ears are so often filled with the noises of this world that we do not hear God’s “still, small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12) Even spiritually receptive people can find themselves forgetting that “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) and fight a continuous battle against physical temptations, instead of being armed with God’s Word.

Jesus came to satisfy all your needs. How spiritually hungry are you?

Prayer: O LORD Jesus, I need to be more conscious of my spiritual needs. I need to spend more time with You in order to gain spiritual wisdom and insight. May You help me, feed me and satisfy my hunger. Amen.