The best hunger

Sometimes we don't realise how hungry we are until we see a Big Mac or get home and smell dinner cooking. And then suddenly it's, 'Actually I'm really hungry.'

It's like that with our relationship with God. When we first meet him, we realise he's all we need, and we start longing for him. This happened for the psalm writer: 'You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water... Your love is better than life' (Psalm 63:1,3 NIV). The writer loved God and desired God for who he is.

If we've never felt this hunger for God, or our hunger has waned a bit lately, let's look at what we're feeding ourselves. Are we ruining our appetite for God by gorging on things we don't really need: TV, social media, hobbies, work? These things are not unhealthy in themselves, but we can 'satisfy' our appetite on them, leaving no appetite left for God. Like eating a bucket of popcorn before dinner: it'll fill us up, but it'll stop us wanting the stuff we actually need.



So what now? The good news is that you can work up an appetite for God. Try developing a new Bible-reading habit. You could use SoulFood in Word For You Today, below each day's reading - designed for you to read through the Bible in a year. After you've read your daily Bible passages, turn them into praise. Lay out God's qualities before him, one by one.





— SCRIPTURE —

'I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you.' Psalm 63:1 NIV
— SOULFOOD —

Mic 5-7, Mark 13:12-23, Ps 78:40-55, Pro 24:1-4