Hunger for God
“He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.”Luke 4:2b
On the First Sunday of Lent we always hear the account of Jesus’s temptation by the enemy. This temptation by the enemy comes after Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days after being led by the Spirit into the desert. We hear in Hebrews, “Son though He was, he learned obedience from what He suffered” (5:8). In His obedience, Jesus went into the desert where wild beasts and the enemy awaited Him, but He knew that the Father would be there too. During those forty days, the Lord probably prayed and communed with the Father and the Spirit, preparing for the start of His public ministry. Having been fasting, Jesus ate nothing and of course, He was hungry, and the devil saw it as the perfect time to tempt Him.
Seeing that Jesus was hungry and knowing that hunger weakens people and creates an opening for vulnerability, the enemy thought he could for sure tempt Jesus successfully and so he tried. The enemy tempted Jesus three times: change stone into bread, kingdoms and powers if He worships him, and to test the Father’s providence and protection. However, each time Jesus responded with the Word of God. The enemy used the three most worldly desires to tempt Jesus: power, possessions, and fame, but Jesus’s eyes were set on God. Yes, He was hungry from fasting, but He hungered more for God, more for the will of His Father.
During Lent we are called to focus on three things: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We are called to fast from worldly attachments so that we might hunger for heavenly truths. We must remember that we are natural beings made for a supernatural end. We are in this world but are not of it. We are human beings but we were made for God. As such, our lives must be ordered towards that. We must not settle for temporal, fleeting worldly pleasures, but we must rather hunger for true joy, the joy that comes from God Himself.
This Lent, may we, like the Lord, be obedient to the Spirit allowing Him to lead us to the wildernesses of our hearts where yes our darkest secrets and deepest wounds lie, but also where the Lord awaits to meet us and heal us. May our prayer and fasting this Lent lead us to God, who alone can satiate our hunger.
Watch this week’s reflection below.
