My "What to do when I'm hungry" list
What happens to you when you're hungry? I usually start losing focus on whatever I'm doing, maybe get a headache. I try to eat before I get too frustrated, but sometimes circumstances don't allow it. While reading my scriptures this week, I found all kinds of ways people reacted to hunger and it was rather intriguing, so I decided to make a list.
First, I read about when Giddianhi got hungry in 3 Nephi 4. He went and laid siege on all the Nephites to try and murder them and steal their food. Here's what Mormon's abridgement of that says:
4 Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites;
That is what I call, "extreme hanger." Turns out it didn't work so well for Giddianhi and his gangsters: they were all slaughtered or imprisoned. None escaped. But still, I went ahead and wrote on my list:
Then I read about the widow and her son in 1 Kings 17. A prophet (Elijah) came by and asked them for a cake, and the only thing they had left to eat was "a handful of meal...and a little oil" (1 Kings 17:12). Elijah told them to go ahead and make what was to be their last meal, but to feed it to him instead. I suppose she could've just given up at this point and thought: "I haven't got anything else to lose; we're going to die anyway, why not feed this guy instead of prolonging our suffering?" But my opinion is that she knew that God would provide for her if she obeyed His messenger. Because of her faithful action, "she, and he, and her house, did eat many days" (1 Kings 17:15). After reading this, I modified my list a little:
The final reaction to hunger that I found was Christ's. As in everything, He was the perfect example. I read about something extraordinary He did: He fasted. He voluntarily went without food for a higher purpose that transcended mortal desires and appetites. In the testimony of St. Matthew we read:
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Talk about fortitude! Jesus must have a really slow metabolism. Either that or He's a God, and I'm definitely more convinced of the latter.
After Jesus fasted, Satan came to tempt Him. Instead of giving in to His carnal desire to eat and to the challenging taunts of the evil one, our Savior remembered the Scriptures. He remembered the words, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
When I read this, I sighed - a hopeful sigh - to myself, "Man...I wanna be more like Jesus."
Here's what my list looks like now:
First, I read about when Giddianhi got hungry in 3 Nephi 4. He went and laid siege on all the Nephites to try and murder them and steal their food. Here's what Mormon's abridgement of that says:
4 Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites;
That is what I call, "extreme hanger." Turns out it didn't work so well for Giddianhi and his gangsters: they were all slaughtered or imprisoned. None escaped. But still, I went ahead and wrote on my list:
- try to kill someone for their food
Then I read about the widow and her son in 1 Kings 17. A prophet (Elijah) came by and asked them for a cake, and the only thing they had left to eat was "a handful of meal...and a little oil" (1 Kings 17:12). Elijah told them to go ahead and make what was to be their last meal, but to feed it to him instead. I suppose she could've just given up at this point and thought: "I haven't got anything else to lose; we're going to die anyway, why not feed this guy instead of prolonging our suffering?" But my opinion is that she knew that God would provide for her if she obeyed His messenger. Because of her faithful action, "she, and he, and her house, did eat many days" (1 Kings 17:15). After reading this, I modified my list a little:
try to kill someone for their food- share with others
The final reaction to hunger that I found was Christ's. As in everything, He was the perfect example. I read about something extraordinary He did: He fasted. He voluntarily went without food for a higher purpose that transcended mortal desires and appetites. In the testimony of St. Matthew we read:
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Talk about fortitude! Jesus must have a really slow metabolism. Either that or He's a God, and I'm definitely more convinced of the latter.
After Jesus fasted, Satan came to tempt Him. Instead of giving in to His carnal desire to eat and to the challenging taunts of the evil one, our Savior remembered the Scriptures. He remembered the words, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
When I read this, I sighed - a hopeful sigh - to myself, "Man...I wanna be more like Jesus."
Here's what my list looks like now:
try to kill someone for their food- share with others
- Remember: man doth not live by bread alone
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