My wife Miska and I have two young boys, Wyatt (5) and Seth (4). They can, of course, be a bit picky about their food. They often tell us, with groans suggesting they are at death’s edge, “I am soooo hungry.” However, they regularly rebuff healthy choices we offer (grapes, pretzels, bananas with soy butter) with scowling, wrinkled faces. What they are angling for is Nerds or Sour Patch Kids or a Twix bar. The boys’ dream lunch would be Slurpees and a bag of Cheetos.

I hear echoes of my mom’s voice when I tell Wyatt and Seth: “If nothing healthy sounds good to you, then you aren’t really hungry.”

The biblical narrative provides a steady diet of stories in which God regularly meets His people in physical ways, providing for their food and drink needs. With each provision, God signals an accompanying truth.

Our deepest soul-hungers can find relief only in God (Mark 14:22; John 6:35). Adam and Eve enjoyed a garden-wide feast, with only one tree that was not on the menu (Genesis 2:16-17). Israel saw manna drop from the sky and water pour out of rocks (Exodus 16:13-31;17:6). Jesus attended a wedding party and provided wine for the celebration as His gift to the newlyweds (John 2:1-11).

On the night before His betrayal and execution, Jesus chose to share a meal as His final act with His disciples. Jesus broke bread and passed around a cup—and He spoke these mysterious, oft-debated words, “This is My body . . . . This is My blood.”

Whatever else Jesus meant, He surely meant this: All our hungers pale in comparison to our truest, deepest hunger-God.

And to us hungry people (which is to say, all of us), Jesus says, “Come. Eat. Find your fill with food that only I can give you.”