The Hungry Years (Part 2)

Hungry years can actually save us from accumulating stuff, which, in turn, demand much time, expense and effort to maintain. More importantly, we can stop focusing on things and start cherishing relationships.

Hungry years also remind us of God’s faithful provision. One day, I chanced upon a Czech proverb that stuck in my mind: “The God who gives us teeth will also give us bread.”

God may cause us to hunger, but He will not allow us to die of hunger. Indeed, He had brought the Israelites to utterly depend on Him for their very survival.

God is not a sadist who dangles a bone before a chained dog, never letting the dog to get the bone. Rather, God responded to their hunger by giving them manna, day after unfailing day for forty years.

Hungry years are just as valuable as the satisfied years. In due time, God put an end to the Israelite’s wandering and brought them to the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey.

If God wills, someday He will usher us into the “Promised Land” He has in store for us. There, we will no longer wrestle with tight budgets and gnawing need.
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But until then, there are treasures to be gathered, lessons to be learned. Trusting in God’s matchless goodness, we embrace the hungry years as the necessary shadow for what promises to be magnificent portrait.

#hopeforthewearysoul

Photo by Kat Yukawa on Unsplash