Hungry for GodShembull

Only God Can Satisfy

As eternal spiritual beings in temporal mortal bodies, we are designed to worship. Created in God’s image, we long to be connected to the One who made us and knows us best just as children long to be connected to their parents. We want to belong and be part of something meaningful and significant, a cause that transcends our own ego, status, wealth, and fame. We want to fulfill the purpose for which God created us, giving ourselves in service so that others may experience His grace, mercy, peace, joy, and abundant blessings. 

Seeking this kind of sustenance for our souls does not mean that our lives will be easy, comfortable, or free of suffering. On the contrary, the more aware we become of our desire to love, serve, and obey God, the more we often suffer the consequences of living in a fallen world of sinful people. In fact, Jesus included these people in His list of blessings that we usually call the Beatitudes, part of His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matt. 5:6, NIV). 

Rather than waiting, suffering, and trusting in the Lord, it’s often tempting to take matters into our own hands when we’re feeling empty inside. Instead of following Jesus and drawing close to God for soul food, we yield to temptation and seek instant gratification. I suspect so many of our emotional struggles result from our attempts to find spiritual nourishment in a worldly diet. We chase after goals, relationships, possessions, and achievements that we believe will make us happy and content, only to get them and discover the ache inside us remains. The prophet Isaiah expressed simply and poetically our spiritual longing and the frustration we feel when our own attempts to satisfy us fail: 

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

—Isaiah 55:1–2

As the prophet points out, nothing we can purchase satisfies us the way God fills our hearts and nourishes our souls. This is the kind of meal that touches all our senses as we “delight in the richest of fare,” knowing that God’s goodness truly satisfies.