Hunger, Its been a global problem for centuries.

Prolonged hunger often caused by a famine can be very

detrimental to physical and mental health.

One historical famine that lasted 7 long years came upon Egypt while Joseph was serving food
administrator. People were coming from all parts of the earth to buy food from Joseph. Let’s read Gen
47:13 to see how badly the famine had affected the Egyptians

Yes, it was so severe that people were unable to grow any food from the land.

When the famished people began to cry out to Pharaoh for bread, he told them: Go to Joseph.
Whatever he says to you, you are to do. So, they began buying food from Joseph. The grain that had
been collected during the 7 years of plenty was the only thing that the people had to satisfy their
hunger.

The people kept bringing money to buy food and eventually they ran out of all the money they had. Let’s
read from Gen 47:16 to see what Joseph told them to do next. So, they began bartering their livestock,
all the animals in their possession in return for food. Eventually, they had no more domestic animals to
give, lets see what they said next in verse 19 and 20.

A famous American Psychologist named Abraham Maslow developed a list of basic needs that all
humans have. Its known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and it states that the first and most basic need
of a person is……… food and water. The need for food is of primary concern and one would be willing to
go to great lengths to satisfy that requirement.

And that is what we saw happening here. The Egyptians had to make huge sacrifices in order to save
their lives. They had to give up all their money, their livestock, their land and even their freedom. Was it
worth it? Lets find out by reading Gen 47:23,25

As we read here, they were able to not only get relief from the famine, but also preserve their lives, so it
was definitely worth it

But there is another type of hunger that every human has which Jesus mentioned in the Sermon on the
mount. He said: ‘Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need since the Kingdom of the heavens
belongs to them, Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness since they will be filled.’

Just as physical hunger can be stopped with physical food, spiritual hunger can only be satisfied with
spiritual food. Is there an abundance of spiritual food available in the world today? Let’s read Amos
8:11, a prophecy that has its fulfillment in our day.

A spiritual famine, that is what we see in the world around us. Billions are suffering from spiritual hunger
due to this foretold famine. But what about God’s people? Are we spiritually hungry? In Isaiah 65:13,
Jehovah proclaimed:

Wouldn’t you agree that we today are getting rich, nourishing spiritual food that keeps us going in this
famine-stricken word?

Spiritual provisions flow to us like a river that keeps getting broader and deeper. If we look at the picture
on page 3 of our workbook, we see Joseph distributing food to the Egyptians during the great famine of
that day. During the spiritual famine of today, Jehovah God provides an abundance of rich spiritual food
by means of the head of the congregation, Jesus Christ. Listed there are the different provisions we get
every day. We have numerous Bible-based publications like books, brochures, article series, magazines,

Hundreds of videos and audio recordings on JW.org and JW broadcasting. And we have our regular
arrangement of meetings, assemblies and conventions. Truly, Jehovah is ensuring that we are not just
fed, but well fed spiritually. Most Psychologists believe that while physical food and water is at the top
most importance to humans, they say that the need for spirituality comes in 5 th place. However, our
maker Jehovah knows that we need spiritual food as much as we require physical food and shelter. That
is why when a disaster strikes, the relief committee organizes efforts to provide both physical and
spiritual food to our brothers that are affected.

As we saw earlier, the Egyptians had to make huge sacrifices in order to get food during the famine.
Now the question in our workbook asks: What sacrifices am I making to feed regularly at Jehovah’s
table?

If we look at that picture there’s a congregation that is happily enjoying the meeting, participating fully
in it. What we don’t see in the picture are the sacrifices that they would have had to make to be there in
the kingdom hall. The young ones in the front might have an exam in their school the following day, but
they would have prepared for it in advance so that they won’t miss the meeting. Some of the brothers
and sisters might have given up well-paying jobs or overtime pay so that they will be free to attend
meetings. How about the elderly ones in the back of the hall? It can be very difficult and sometimes
painful to make the effort to attend meetings, but they’ve made the sacrifice to fulfill their spiritual
need.

These days, we don’t have our meetings in a hall. Does that mean that we don’t need to make any
sacrifices to attend? I am sure you brothers and sisters will agree that it takes effort to be here. Firstly,
we all had to learn how to use Zoom, we’ve had to learn how to follow the instructions so that we can
benefit fully. We see many of our brothers who share their rooms with others making efforts to attend
and participate in the meeting discreetly, some even doing it while seated in their cars. Some have had
to join in from their places of employment so that they would not miss even one of our meetings.
Internet in this country is by no means cheap and in some places it’s difficult to access, but we see that
all have made the effort to be there at our zoom meetings.

Is it worth the effort? What would you say? Most definitely. We gain true relief from the spiritual famine
in the world around us, moreover, we are able to preserve our lives. We rejoice at being able to fill our
minds and hearts with all the spiritual food we get from Jehovah’s table. So may we continue to make
every effort and every sacrifice to satisfy our spiritual hunger until the time comes when Jehovah will rid
the earth of both physical and spiritual famine.