May 7, 2009
-
Hunger and thirst for God
I long to recapture a hunger and thirst for God — but where can I find it? How do I beckon it forth? Physical hunger and thirst seem to come upon me so naturally. I don’t even have to wonder about it. It’s strong and urgent, pressing and insistent – especially in these days of pregnancy. It’s an unavoidable clamor – demanding, commanding, arresting, paralyzing. If I don’t feed the hunger, there are dire consequences – nausea, headache, vomiting, lightheadedness.
But spiritual hunger! How it works the opposite as physical. The longer I abstain and refrain from consumption, the less desire I have for it. Cravings and longings for God fade into obscurity. The aching and the thirsting ceases. The restlessness, which arises from being in a world which pales so far in comparison to the Kingdom of God, stills as if it never knew existence heretofore. But when that hunger is fed! – then I find the bottomlessness of my soul. The more I am filled and satisfied by the Living God, the more I find myself eagerly panting for more and more of His quenching Living Water. (Such irony.)
So when I do not hunger for Him, what is the answer to my search for an increase in my hunger then to feed my soul? I must feed my soul, even when I feel no hunger, so that I may realize how hungry I really am — that my soul is in a true state of famine.
