Idolaters are hungry, and idolaters have the kind of hunger that cannot be filled. The prophet Isaiah says it this way: “The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint” (Is. 44:12).
Those who fight against Zion, the city of God, think that they are able to fill themselves—but they cannot. “It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty” (Is. 29:8).
His soul is empty. Our Lord’s mother spoke of this also. “He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away” (Luke 1:53).
You come to this table to be filled, and God promises to do it. The only way you may come to this table and not be filled is through attempting to bring any idols with you. If you are Isaiah’s smith, fashioning idols with your tongs, then your strength will fail. If you are fighting against Ariel, against Zion, all your eating is just dream food, and when you awaken, the gnawing in your belly will be worse than ever before. If you come to this table rich in your own conceits, then you will be sent empty away.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled. The food is here; the food is good; the food is all of grace. You cannot earn a bit of it, and the only way to forfeit the blessings that is here is through trying to earn it. That is the heart of all idolatry.
You are not here because you bought a ticket. You are not here because you registered in time. You are not here because you met the deadline. You are not here because you have season tickets. You are here because you have been bought, and you have been brought.
We are fed because we do not feed ourselves.