I recently read a blog written by Maureen Eha with Charisma Media, and she beautifully writes about what I’m learning about right now: HUNGER. Oh How I long to be satisfied by Him and only Him! I hope you enjoy Maureen’s words as much as I did…
“God has prepared a banquet for us — a feast of His presence — But we won’t have the appetite for it if we’re satisfied with something else.
Long ago the psalmist wrote about hunger for God in what we now know as Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (NKJV). The type of desire he describes is the type every one of us should have. It’s not something unusual that is reserved for only a few impassioned souls; the normal state of a Christian is to be thirsty and hungry for God.
The Bible tells us that God “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Ps. 107:9). But we must meet the requirement of the Word in order to receive the promised reward: We must be thirsty and hungry.
Have you been merely snacking? Allowing other things or people to come before God in your life will have the same effect as being in sin. You see, it is the nature of man to want to satisfy himself, to seek to assuage the insatiable hunger he was born with–but often we try to satisfy this hunger with the wrong things. We don’t understand that the emptiness in our souls can be filled only by God.
The truth is, God has a banquet prepared for us–a feast of His presence–but we won’t have the appetite for it if we have been satisfied with something else.
Many of us make the mistake of filling up on junk food–immoral TV programs, movies and other forms of entertainment, for example. But even seemingly good things, such as certain spiritual activities or disciplines, can diminish our hunger for the best.
You may be asking, If perpetual hunger for God is the goal, how do we achieve it? How do we remain continually hungry for Him? I believe there are two things we must do.
First, we must realize that only God can satisfy us. No matter what else we try to substitute for Him, it will bring only passing pleasure.
Second, if we want to remain hungry, we must learn to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” as Psalm 34:8 encourages us to do. But what does it mean to “taste” in the Spirit?
In the natural, tasting food means that we put it in our mouths to experience the nature of it–the flavor, texture and composition. In the Spirit, “tasting” means something similar: to experience the nature of God. And just as with a delicious meal, every “taste” in the Spirit makes you want more. I’m talking about being aware of His presence in your life in whatever way He chooses to make Himself known whether in the small whisper of His voice or a face-to-face encounter.
You could say that our “honeymoon” with God never has to end. As we get to know Him better, we see more of His goodness, more of His infinite beauty and perfection and holiness, and we desire to know and love Him even more. The ongoing revelation of God’s nature increases our hunger for Him, and we begin to understand why the psalmist declared, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25-26).
We must press in to know God, to experience Him. It’s not enough to have just one touch or visitation. That would be like surviving the rest of our lives on only one meal! We need to develop a lifestyle of “tasting and seeing that He is good.”
