"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." - Psalm 90:14
Today I was waiting in line to check in for my Air Asia flight to Phnom Pehn, when I suddenly felt crazy ravenous! I don't know about you, but when im hungry I start having encounters with my little 'Cheeky Abi Devil' and the possibility of me behaving like a foul beast is on the rise! I begin to feel myself becoming easily angered, annoyed, short tempered and down right irrational! This instance felt much like that, maybe not quite as dramatic as that, but if you know anything about me, i like to exaggerate! ;) What did amaze me is how once I managed to find myself some food for my belly, I managed to come back to reality relatively quickly and felt calm and collected and much more at peace with my 'Cheeky Abi Angel' once more! Hurrah!
I had about 3 hours to kill at the airport, so my hunger episode prompted a few thoughts...
I started to think about physical food, and it occurred to me that we were created to be hungry. Our bodies need constant nourishment, and hunger is simply a trigger designed by God to stimulate a necessary response. Whether were talking about physical, emotional, mental or spiritual hunger, we're only temporarily satisfied for a matter of hours between meal times.
When I think about it...the satisfying response to physical hunger is food and drink.
The satisfying response to emotional hunger is love.
The satisfying response to mental hunger is knowledge.
And the only satisfying response to spiritual hunger is God. Nothing can take His place, nothing can come close to God if you want to satisfy your spiritual hunger.
Being a woman I know all about food cravings...sometimes they can be so specific that im not even sure what it is that im craving! Our souls constantly crave to be fed, and I guess if God does not have a proper place in your life...you will stay hungry for a loooooong time! Ive recently started to experience these spiritual food cravings in my life...when I go a few days without praying or reading my bible or reading something spiritual, I tend to start panicking much like I did in the Air Aisa cue for my flight. I also realised that the longer I go without spiritual food, the more irrational my decisions become in my life. My hunger totally affects my judgement, and I guess the same applies when we're spiritually hungry. I have a tendency to compromise my judgement and push my convictions to the back of my mind when im spiritually hungry. Im also less likely to have a spritely conscience which would probably get me out of sticky situations if i wasn't so spiritually starved!
Have you ever noticed that the less water you drink, the less thirsty you become, but the more water you drink...the more water you want and need? I guess its much like our spiritual lives, the more we feed ourselves spiritually, the more we will hunger and thirst for God in our lives. :)
When I was in high school one of my subjects I took was Home Economics (yes yes...laugh and point, laugh and point!). One of the main formulas we learnt in nutrition was The Food Pyramid. This is a simple but very effective way of looking at the foods we eat and putting them in a hierarchy of 'eat more of' to 'eat less of' etc...so for example Fruits and Vegetables are at the bottom of the hierarchy, but they are the food group you should eat the most of on a daily basis, and then the Fats and Oils group is at the top, but its the smallest tip of the pyramid and so you are supposed to eat Fats and Oils sparingly on a daily basis. When I think about the food pyramid, I started to think about a 'Faith Food Pyramid', and I suppose it would work much the same. Our souls are fed when we experience God each day through the basic faith food groups, such as:
Reading the Bible
Praying
Worshiping
Fellowship
Listening to spiritual music or reading spiritual books etc.
Sooo, we should totally set aside time aside each day to pray, read our Bibles and worship our amazing God who loves us so so much! This is basic faith food stuff, nothing fancy or gourmet like about this one, just the basics :)
OK, so I dont know about you, but I prefer eating my meals in small portion sizes (much like my spiritual food - easy to digest!), but I also need a snack every now and then. Around 4/5pm ish I sometimes start to feel a little jittery and need just a little somethin-somethin. Yum! I suppose a spiritual snack can also hit the spot. Spiritual snacks can come in the form of scripture verses, some choice christian worship tunes, christian radio (although I dont know of any good ones, but heard of a few from my hot mamma), daily devotions and my new time favorite...christian books.
Although snacks are good, they should never replace a main meal ;) And why would we? The more we thirst and hunger after God, the more His amazing light and love shines through us and penetrates this dark and desperate world. We get to be an inspiration to others, and Gods love and Grace should beam from within us, and it should be recognisable to those around us. What an awesome responsibility! "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
I think its important to remember that God made us this way, he made us hungry and to hunger after Him, and im beginning to see more and more how so much of what God puts in our daily lives holds little gems and gifts and lessons to show us simple analogies of simple teachings. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." - Matthew 5:6
"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things" - Psalm 107:8-9
"They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them." - Isaiah 49:10
"Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh." - Luke 6:21
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