Experience tells us that hunger pangs are relieved after an evening meal, that thirst is quenched after drinking from a pitcher of cold water, and that weariness is replaced with vitality after a good nights rest, but how does the heart of a child of God get replenished with the joy of the Lord? And how would a child of God know if his heart is being revived with the bread of heaven? The cause (lack of food) and effect (hunger pangs) that you and I are familiar with in the physical realm is not the same in the spiritual. In the physical world, hunger pangs is evidence of an empty stomach. But in the spiritual it is the opposite: Spiritual hunger pangs for God is evidence of a filled soul. Or using blindness and eye-sight as a metaphor, if you want to “see”  Christ, you must become blind – to know that you are spiritually blind is evidence that you can see the Lord.

After restoring sight to a man who was born blind (John 9), the Lord found him later in the streets because he had been rejected and tossed out of the synagogue by the Pharisees and yet they were driven with curiosity, hanging around him, asking cynical questions. Jesus then asked the man, as the Pharisees listened, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He replied, “Who is He,  Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” Then he who had “seen” the Lord with spiritual eyes worshiped Him. At this point Jesus taught a remarkable mystery: “For judgment I have come into this world,  that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” In other words, if you admit your spiritual blindness, that is evidence of spiritual eyesight. But if you say, “I have no spiritual blindness – I can see clearly,” then that is evidence that you see nothing at all.

Offended at the implication, the Pharisees responded, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say,‘we see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” Since the Pharisees boasted that they could see spiritual things just fine, their sins remained, and so they remained in darkness. They could not see (admit spiritual blindness) their need of a Savior to take away their sins. But one who does see (admits spiritual blindness) has his sins removed.

Let’s ask the questions again: how does the heart of a child of God get
replenished with the joy of the Lord? And how would a child of God know
if his heart is being revived with the bread of heaven? Let’s hear C.H.
Spurgeon speak to this:

“My dear hearer, let me assure you for your comfort, that when you go down on your knees and say, ‘Lord, I groan before thee, because I cannot groan; I cannot feel; Lord help me to feel;’ why, you do feel, and you have got the repentance that you are asking for . . . The very grace which you are asking of God is speaking in your very prayer. It is repentance which asks God that I may repent more. It is a broken heart which asks God to break it. That is not a hard heart which says, ‘Lord I have a hard heart; soften my heart.’ It is a soft heart already.  That is not a dead soul which says, ‘Lord I am dead; quicken me.’  Why, you are quickened. That man is not dumb who says, ‘Lord I am dumb; make me speak.’ Why, he speaks already; and that man who says, ‘Lord I cannot feel,’ why, he feels already. He is a sensible sinner already. And when I say, “Whosoever will,  let him come,’ and you say, “I wish I were more willing, I want to be willing,’ why, you are the man. It is only one of Satan’s quibbles – a bit of hell’s infernal logic to drive you from Christ. Be a match for Satan now, this once and say, ‘Thou lying fiend, thou tellest me I do not feel my need of a savior enough. I know I feel my need; and inasmuch as I long to feel it I do feel it. Christ bids me come to him, and I will come – now, this morning. I will trust my soul, just as it is,  in the hands of him whose body hung upon the tree. Sink or swim, here I am resting on him, and clinging to him as the rock of my salvation.”

The New Park Street Pulpit 6 (1859). pg. 399.

David cried to the Lord, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from your Law.” Even after salvation we still need to admit our blindness – and if we do, we joyfully see!

Dear child of God, Let your soul be filled with hunger pangs for God.

In your spiritual poverty, live on the riches of Christ.

Let your thirst for God be quenched with a confession of unworthiness from a parched tongue.

Be encouraged that a contrite heart for God is the healthiest one.

Admit your blindness and see the Lord!