Spiritual Hunger Games: what is it and how do you make it out alive?
Keep these two definitions of hunger in mind:
Hunger (noun) – a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food
Hunger (verb) – to have a strong desire or craving for
First lets take a look at the definition where hunger is a noun. Discomfort and weakness come when you are hungry. Now as I’m sure you know, this is not a good feeling. And what is this feeling caused by? Lack of food. Pretty basic stuff: when you don’t eat and get enough food, you get hungry which brings feelings of discomfort and weakness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” -Lamentations 3:24
The Lord is our portion. He is our daily bread. He is our food. And when we don’t get enough of Him, we get hungry, and feelings of discomfort and weakness follow. To feel close to God, you have to spend time with Him. And maybe I’m just speaking for myself here, but whenever I am lacking in my relationship with Christ it’s because I am focusing on other things and not putting God at the center, which leads to feeling distant from Him.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” -John 6:35
If you deprive yourself of your daily bread, you will be hungry, and feelings of discomfort and weakness will follow. It is in Christ that we are made strong.
Something to keep in mind though, there is someone out there who wants you to feel this way. Satan wants to spiritually starve you. He wants you to feel hungry. He will try to distance you from your relationship with God, and if he can’t do that, he will make you proud of your relationship with God, which is just as bad.
Now let’s look at the definition of hunger when it is a verb. (to have a strong desire or craving for) God wants to satisfy you. He does not want you to be lacking or hungry. He wants you to desire and crave for more of Him.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” -Matthew 5:6
For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul H fills with good things. -Psalm 107:9
Having a hunger for God is good. It is this hunger that drives us to draw to a closer and deeper relationship with Him. The closer we are to Christ, the more we will feel complete. It is this hunger that gives us purpose. And as long as you have breath in your lungs, you have purpose in your steps.
When you pursuing God wholeheartedly, there will be no feelings of discomfort or weakness. God wants to eliminate your feelings of discomfort and weakness that come along with being hungry.
As a deer pants for water, so pants my souls for you, O God. -Psalm 42:1
It is not good to be hungry for God, but it is good to hunger for God.
So recap: Satan wants you to be hungry, in fact He wants you to starve. God wants you to hunger for Him, but He does not want you to be hungry for him. Confusing? Hopefully not. It’s just the spiritual hunger games.
Now one last thing. There will come a day when there will no be no such thing as hunger. The day we enter the Kingdom of God we will hunger no more.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” -Revelation 7:16
There will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more thirst, and no more hunger. There will be no spiritual hunger games in Heaven, and what a comforting thought that is.
