Isaiah 26:9: With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Jesus said, “for they shall be filled.” What is the righteousness that should be our food and drink? Jesus says that it is a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It is the righteousness of the kingdom of God. It’s the righteousness that God does, and the righteousness that He does in and through us.

The righteousness that we eat and drink is the righteousness that transforms anger into reconciliation, that plucks out the lustful eye, that speaks the truth, that does not return evil for evil but turns the other cheek, the righteousness that loves enemies and persecutors. It’s the righteousness of secret alms, secret prayer, secret fasting. It is the righteousness of trusting our heavenly Father to give us with food and clothing. It is the righteousness of the golden rule, doing to others what we want them to do to us.

We can sum it up this way: The righteousness we hunger for is the way of Jesus. More precisely, the righteousness we hunger for is Jesus Himself, who is the Way.

He is God’s justice in flesh, and in action. This is what Isaiah longs for, what his soul desires in the night. Isaiah longs for God will bring salvation – jeshua – to birth. Isaiah hungers and thirsts for the body and blood of the Righteous One.

What Isaiah longed for, we have received. Having received it, though, we still need to learn to hunger for it. We are surrounded by flashy, tasty things that spark our desire, and many of them are truly desirable. Everything created is good, and we should receive everything with thanks. But our souls are easily attracted and distracted; we easily develop a taste for food that does not satisfy.

By serving us a weekly meal, the Father trains our tastes. He disciplines our desires. He shapes our souls so that we hunger and thirst above all His kingdom and its righteousness, so that we hunger for the righteousness that is Jesus.