HUNGRY

I had seen her there before…in fact we had shared a number of lunches together, but today my heart broke for this little striped tiger cat. She seems to live close to one of the pavilions in a nearby park where I often come for my quiet time. I had seen her wait many times until after a group of picnickers had vacated before she’d quietly peruse the area; checking the tables and trash cans for something palatable.  

But today was different…I watched as she peered from a wooded area to the side of the pavilion. She was at full alert; her ears were perked and her tail stood at attention…waiting for a sign of welcome. It was obvious that she was scared…but she was also hungry for food and human companionship. It was as though every part of her furry little body longed to go the people to receive something good…but her fear (or perhaps her good sense, depending on the particular group picnicking there) held her back. Eventually she turned around and went back into the bush from where she came.

And I was quickly reminded of how different kinds of hunger can make all of God’s creatures do desperate things and those types of decisions rarely turn out well. I have experienced that kind of hunger in my lifetime-have you? I think most of us have longed for something from the depths of our being…but were left unsatisfied with an aching desire that never seems to be filled. And when the quenching of that hunger seems long in coming, we sometimes devise ways to “help” God; normally with lackluster results at best. I thought about my own life and I wondered about mistakes where I had allowed strong desires to get me into places far from God’s appointed paths. What about you?

I think most of us are vulnerable to at least some degree to hunger, although it has different faces.

For some, the hunger is for a special someone to come into their life and the intense craving for that relationship can color every choice, every conversation and when not satisfied, it can lead to a feeling of confusion or discouragement.

Some pine for the fulfillment of a long held dream, while others hunger for God’s release or blessing. We may cry out asking the Lord to intervene and when He doesn’t act on our time table we may begin to take matters into our own hands. These choices usually bring little or no positive results, but we are blinded by our “hunger pains” so we keep trying to “assist” God.

For still others the hunger may stem from a longing for financial prosperity or a craving for success in our careers. But whatever the form, it nearly always has the power to get our eyes off of God and onto the object of our desire.

Well sadly, we are not alone; the Bible is full of individuals who also struggled with hunger issues.

Saul allowed his hunger for God’s favor to morph into a lust to destroy the one he felt was responsible for his own fall from grace; David. He spent years of his life making terrible choices that eventually brought his ruin. Yes, hunger can drive us to desperate choices that in turn can lead to destruction.

Cain hungered for God’s acceptance and eventually that gave place to a raging jealousy against his brother Abel. So the first human blood was shed and the latest statistic I could find was that a life is now taken worldwide every sixty seconds.

Sarah hungered for God’s fulfillment of His promise and when it didn’t come “on time” she came up with plan “B”, creating an entire people group who still long to destroy God’s chosen people.

Yes, hunger can mar our good judgment. When we want something so bad we tend to whittle our focus down to that one single area of concern. Instead of a balanced view, the object of our craving becomes paramount. Our thoughts, our actions and our hearts come together creating the perfect storm that creates a sort of tunnel vision so that all we can see is the object of our desire.

Look again, it wasn’t the individual’s hunger itself that was destructive; it was that they allowed it to become the focus of their life. Look at what they were hungering for: the Lord’s favor, a desire for God’s acceptance and a fulfillment of a divine promise. There is nothing wrong with any of these when they are gone about in God’s way-BUT whenever a longed for blessing becomes of greater importance than the One who holds it; an idol is born.

Now God’s initial plan for hunger was to ensure that essential needs were met. He also gifted us with a deep and pervasive hunger that can only be satisfied in relationship with Him. Similarly, I believe God plants the seeds of hunger within us to help birth passion and to fuel the dreams and plans that He created us for in the first place. Hunger was meant to signal a need and then to subsequently push us to find a way to meet that need.  So God can and will use every type of hunger to encourage us to come closer to Himself and to His perfect plan. An example of this is found in Luke 15:16 where the prodigal son’s hunger eventually turns his heart back to his loving father.  And sometimes when we get hungry enough, we’ll turn to the satisfaction that only God can bring.

In fact, Jesus pronounced blessedness to all who hunger for the right things. Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness” and He also promised that in hungering for God’s path that our earthly needs would also be met. Matthew 6:33 and Luke 12:31 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

But what about those hunger pains that seem to hold on? What are we to do with the ever-present, inescapable longings?  Simply said; we bring them to God…again. He never tires of us presenting a genuine need and our hunger issues never take God by surprise; in fact Jesus Himself said that the Father knows our every need before we ever ask Him to meet it. (Matthew 6:8) Take comfort that God is still actively loving us in the midst of our hunger and He has a plan to fully satisfy every longing that rages within us…but it will be in His timing and in His way.

His answer is simple…but it is rarely easy and the choice rests on us alone; today we must choose to draw close to God and then trust and wait, allowing the unimaginable love of Christ to penetrate our deepest longings. (Ephesians 3:17-20) For on a future day every yearning in our life will be fully satisfied. In fact, in Revelation 7:16 His Word promises that on the last day every ache of emptiness will give way to an eternal fullness and we will never again know the pain of hunger. But for now, may we find the fulfillment that He alone offers and may our hearts cry; “Surely Father, You do all things well and we willingly trust you with the deepest longings we carry!”

 

NOTE: I am not able to take in this little cat and all the shelters are full. If anyone is interested in giving her the loving home she deserves please message me and we can go to the park together and get her-or at least try.