Hunger That Causes Hostility

I was struck the other day by Isaiah 8:21 that says this, in the NLT, “They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God…”

The NIV calls them “distressed and hungry” and “famished.”
The ESV calls them “enraged” and “speaking contemptuously against their king and their God.”
The KJV calls them “hardly bestead”, which means, “oppressed with anxiety.”

And one word, among all the other stood out to me the most and it’s the word found in the NLT that says, “because” they were hungry.

BECAUSE.

It was their hunger that caused them to be in a distressed, enraged, oppressed, and in an anxiety-ridden condition. It was their hunger that caused them to speak ill of their king and of their God.
And I thought about a conversation I had with someone recently through a social media platform.
And I considered the way that their angry words toward our current government and their great fear over all the world is experiencing today, stirred something up in me. If I am being honest, I could feel a little bitterness well up inside me when I wanted, desperately, to defend with scripture, the necessity of honoring those in leadership. And following one remark I made the conscious decision to engage no further. Because the truth really is that “contempt breeds contempt.”

But then the Lord, in His kindness, would lead me here… to this verse… and my eyes would be made to see a different perspective.

They are, “weary and hungry”… and “because" they are… they will, “speak ill” and be, “oppressed with anxiety.”

Note - hunger here doesn’t denote “hunger for food”, but rather, “spiritual hunger.”

When we see those who maintain unrealistic fear and from it accuse, seek blame, and point the finger of ridicule, we can assume they aren’t “bad people”… but rather “spiritually deprived” people. And it can come from those who are in the family of faith. Somewhere along the way they have forgotten their first love, and the “light has gone out.” (Ps 38:10)

My commentary says, “The unbelieving Jews were prone to seek counsel in difficulties.” And when they insist on seeing their pain above His provision… naturally we see this kind of behavior… “weary and hungry” and “speaking ill” with “oppression and anxiety.”

Another commentary says this, “condition is the result of character and conduct. We are architects of our own conditions, and we make the houses that we dwell in to fit the convolutions of the body that dwells within us.”

Wow.

And so today may we see with a little more grace.

It’s a heart issue.

When others don’t see the way we see… when their belief system doesn’t align with ours… when their political views cause dissension and disunity… it’s not a matter of being wrong, being hateful, or being inherently “bad”… but simply far from the Father.

Because scripture tell us that we are kept, “in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Is 26:3) And who can say that they don't need more peace, especially now?

Let’s take time today to pray for the unification of our nation. For the returning of hearts to Him.
Their hunger is causing them to, “see only dimness and darkness and fearful gloom.” (Is 8:22a) And because of this we must fear that the result will be that they will be, “thrust into darkness.” (Is 8:22b)

We’re all in this together.
Who will we be a great witness to today?
TODAY is the day of salvation!