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Hungering And Thirsting For God Hunger and thirst are natural expressions of the basic human desire and need for food and water. One of the clear indicators that something is wrong physically is when we lose our appetite. It is the same spiritually. To hunger and thirst for God. is at the very root of our being. It’s the way God made us. When there is no hunger for the presence of God, it is an indicator that something is wrong spiritually. Because that hunger is so basic to human nature, it often finds fulfilment in other areas rather than in seeking God. Much as eating unhealthy junk food can dull physical appetite, so that which is not of God can dull our spiritual appetite. The saddest examples, are Christians who allow their appetite for God to be dulled by other things…. even religious things. Our churches are filled with Believers who are so satiated by activities, programs and projects that they no longer have a hunger for God. So many Christians today snack their way through the day on ‘junk-food’ activities and then find they have no time to ‘feast’ with God. We complain about our busyness and tiredness, but that is typically a spiritual problem more than a problem of schedule. We take God in small doses throughout the day and week and somehow hope that on Sunday we can ‘catch up’ on our time with the Lord. ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.’ Matthew 5:6 Hungering and thirsting after God is a scriptural concept and throughout the old and new testaments, the people of God are depicted as those who have developed a desire for God. Could it be that the missing element in the Church today is that desire for God Himself? We have become satisfied with mere church, mere religious exertion, mere numbers and the things we can do, and there is nothing wrong with these things. So let us again make the comparison to physical hunger. When we get hungry, many of us begin to look for something to appease the hunger, even if it is something that is not really good for us. We may look for a snack from the refrigerator to take away the feeling of hunger. Spiritually speaking, there is a hunger for God that is often not recognised for what it is. It may be an empty feeling, a sense of longing, even loneliness in the midst of people. So we start looking for ways to fill up the emptiness. In a sense, we begin to look for the junk food that will mask the pangs of hunger within. The danger is that we dull our sense of hunger for God in just the same way that continued snacking throughout the day can dull our appetite and cause us to pass up a good, nutritious meal that our body needs, so we can fill up our schedules and desires to the point that we do not even realise that we no longer desire the presence of God. It is no accident that one of the great spiritual disciplines of the Church is to fast. When we fast, we become acutely aware of our physical hunger and that can lead to a spiritual hunger as well. It may be that we will need to fast from other things than food in order to restore our spiritual hunger. There may need to be a slowing of our hectic lifestyles that are crowding out our time with the Father. We may need to fast from some forms of entertainment to devote time to seeking the Lord. Those heavily involved in ministry may need to say “no” to that which is good in order to seek that which is best. We may even need to re-evaluate our family schedules. Tommy Tenney, in his devotional: Devotions for God Chasers, prays a prayer that we all may need to use daily to build our hunger for God: “Lord Jesus, my soul aches at the mere mention of Your name. My heart leaps for every rumour of Your coming, and each possibility that You will manifest Your presence. I’m not satisfied with mere spiritual dainties. I’m ravenously hungry for You in Your fullness. I’m desperate to feast on the bread of Your presence and quench my thirst with the wine of Your Spirit.” May hungering and thirsting for God drive us to a passionate, relentless pursuit of Him. Article from Herald of His Coming |
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