Food Is Not The Enemy: Overcoming Food StrugglesSample

What Are You Hungry For?

Scripture is full of passages describing how God created us to desire Him, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, to David’s many psalms of longing, to Paul’s presentation of the Gospel in Athens, and everything in between.

If we desire God, He promises us not just a taste of His goodness, but that we will find complete satisfaction in Him. The Greek word for satisfied in Matthew 5:6 actually comes from the root word “to gorge.” This surprising connection indicates the immense satisfaction that is ours when we find our fulfillment in Jesus rather than the empty promises of an ice cream carton or bag of chips.

But what if our hunger for God is wanting? What if we don’t really desire Him? Too many Christians don’t truly hunger for God because for too long we have taken every longing, hurt, and fear to the fridge instead of to Jesus.

And we’re often afraid to admit our indifference toward God for fear that perhaps He will strike us dead. But God already knows the state of our spiritual hunger (or lack thereof). We won’t impress or disappoint Him by being truthful, but we will begin making headway.

So this is where we start: we must honestly assess ourselves, asking God’s Spirit to shine His light in our hearts and reveal the state of our spiritual appetites for Him. And if needed, we boldly ask God to stir up our hunger for Him. For when we’re sincere about our spiritually dormant appetites, God’s Holy Spirit will be faithful to awaken in us a hunger for His glorious sufficiency.

Challenge: If you find yourself controlled by your cravings and your hunger for God lacking, make this your daily prayer for the next 10, 30 or however many days it takes to experience God’s stirring: “Lord, if I’m completely honest, I don’t really hunger for You. Forgive me, and give me a hunger and thirst for You. I want to crave You and only You. Amen.”