Blessed Are Those Who Hunger for Righteousness

November 6, 2014

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger for Righteousness

“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

There are again echoes of Psalm 37 in this Beatitude, as well as David’s Psalm 17. In Psalm 17, David begins by calling out to God, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!” (Psalm 4:1 NASB). David was in a right relationship with God because God called and anointed David to be King over Israel. God made David righteous: that is, in a right relationship with God.

It has been my experience that Christians fall into three basic groups with regard to their understanding of righteousness. The first two groups constitute the vast majority of all Christians. One group hasn’t yet grasped the concept of a relationship with God and thus is more focused on trying to be ‘good enough’ to please God, rather than resting in Abba’s acceptance of them. The second group just assumes righteousness comes with being saved and they don’t spend much time thinking about righteousness, much less hungering and thirsting for righteousness. The third group is those who Jesus blesses with the promise they will be satisfied. Both Saint Paul and King David exemplify those in this third group.

In Psalm 17, we see an expression of David’s trust in God. David is not in denial; he knows he has adversaries and that his adversaries are enemies of God. However, David fully expects that God will vindicate him. He trusts God to be both the judge and the executor of divine judgment. This is the same trust the Apostle Paul proclaimed when he wrote, “for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return” (2 Timothy 1:12). Why did both David and Paul exhibit this level of trust? Because they worshipped the God of (their) righteousness!

When Jesus speaks of righteousness in this Beatitude, he is not talking about the righteousness of the world that can be earned through good works. He is saying I am called to a different kind of righteousness. This is the righteousness that comes through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. In this righteousness, the life of Jesus becomes visible in my life as I live in a way that expresses the merciful, forgiving, reconciling will of God.

Jesus is blessing those who hunger, who long, and who thirst from the depths of their souls to be made right with the God of all creation. Because of the immeasurable love of Jesus, I am now and forever more in a right relationship with God: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, I can rejoice with the psalmist in saying:

“Because I am righteous, I will see you.

    When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied” (Psalm 17:15).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.