Hunger finds me; I don’t have to go looking for it.
Why isn’t it that way with a hunger for God and His Word? I can put a parade of inessentials ahead of going to God’s Word when I don’t hunger for it. I can call them important must-do’s; but the truth is they aren’t as life-changing as God’s Word.
I learned something about my own hunger for God’s Word when it became buried under too many “good” and sometimes important tasks. My husband and I took a two-day break to one of our favorite Georgia places—Callaway Gardens. It is 2,500 acres of beauty and peace. I reconnected with my hunger for spiritual protein during those two days. I returned home with a new vendetta against my own neglect.
My point is this: You must find your hunger before you can feed it.
How do you do that? Here’s my short list:
Return to the last Bible study where you learned a life-changing truth from God’s Word.
Search through your Bible for underlined scripture that became your neon sign from God.
Review a book that sent you on a spiritual discovery to make important life changes.
When you connect to a time when something awakened your hunger, you remember how it motivated you in a way that God’s Word as a homework assignment never will. Ask God to help you find that same hunger today.
It’s amazing to me that we ask God for a multitude of things we aren’t sure He will say “Yes” to; but fail to ask for what He already wants to give, Perhaps we get the ask-and-it-shall-be-given verse backwards. Maybe asking for what God has already promised to give is where we connect to God’s heart and mind. Could that process edit our desires, help us more quickly connect to the resources God has promised to give?
We register hunger for a lot of things that have no eternal implications. I want to hunger for the Word of God and savor it like a just-ripened peach or some decadent dessert. I want my hunger to pull me away from the pushy voices in my head and help me choose God’s Word forcefully, willfully, without struggle or angst. I don’t want to substitute what I’ve already learned; I want to dig for the treasure I need for today.
I refuse to let guilt be my task master and drive me behind the whip of “ought to.” I want a hunger that helps me find my “want to.” No fast food or quick leftovers. I want the feast, the whole meal deal.
If you have lost that driving hunger for God’s Word, don’t worry; God knows where it is and has been waiting to help you find it. Like the woman who lost the coin and searched until she found it, He will direct your search and join the celebration when a new hunger overtakes you.
Let’s pray for each other
That the very Word of God
The revelation of His character and His Ways
Becomes the meal we cannot skip or live without.
So that we become people who know and do
What His Word says and means
If you have a question or would like to share an experience, leave a comment or write me. We’re stronger as we take these journeys in community!
Sharing the Meal!
Debbie