Knowledge is Life, Therefore Choose Life (Proverbs 18:15)

A good question to ask ourselves is what are we seeking after in this life? What drives us on everyday?

"The mind of the prudent is ever getting knowledge, and the ear of the wise is ever seeking - inquiring for and craving - knowledge." Proverbs 18:15, Amplified

To be prudent is to show care for your future. It is one thing to seek after pleasure that lasts for a few minutes or even days, but what about that substantial stuff? It is sort of like choosing between steak and sugar. One choice is very beneficial and has sustenance to it. The other choice is not detrimental, but does not have the ability to sustain like the other. So the prudent man must then seek after knowledge and the wise has a craving for knowledge.

If we are truly the Lord's, then there will be within us a desire to seek after better things. Not only are we seeking after knowledge, but there is a hunger for such things. What are you hungry for? I guarantee you are hungry for whatever you have been putting inside your body, or mind, or soul.

Remember one thing, however. Knowledge equals death; death of ignorance. The ignorant might not understand the benefits of steak when all they have had is sugar. But once we have had the steak, our eyes are enlightened to that which is good and that which is not so good. So not only is knowledge death, but it is a birthing of choice. We can choose steak. We can choose sugar. We can choose Jesus. We can choose sin. We are surrounded by choice. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord you God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, NKJV)

Hunger and Thirst = Spiritual Need

For the first three Beatitudes, we see attitudes and states of being that go against human nature. They are, however, a natural spiritual progression. They are designed by God to create a space and a need in our lives for something from the outside to fulfill. Becoming poor allows the Lord to make us rich. Mourning allows the Lord to comfort. Our being meek allows the Lord to give us an inheritance. The same is with the next installment in the Beatitudes:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)

It is interesting that the Lord uses two descriptions of human need. We do not need to be rich to survive, we do not need comfort to survive, we do not need and inheritance to survive. We need, however, to eat and drink to survive. What is it about the righteousness of God that He would liken it to a need for survival?

To subdue hunger, we ingest; to quench thirst, we ingest. So to is the Word of God. 56 times in the Bible the word honey is used. Out of those 56 times, twice it is in direct reference to the Word of God. Ezekiel 3:3, "And He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.' So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness." Revelation 10:9, 10, "And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter."

The idea of eating is to assimilate that very thing. It forever becomes a part of you. It nourishes the entire body. So those who hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God will be filled. This is a promise.

David wrote, "For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness." (Psalm 107:9, NKJV)