I’m So Hungry
I heard someone say that as we were playing a game of Mahjongg. I wondered why they didn’t eat breakfast. Of course, they weren’t hungry as this world knows hungry people who stand on street corners holding a sign that says: “I’ll work for food”.
I have just a few more days until the end of my Daniel Fast. I have experienced some cravings and even some hunger pangs. But there’s another type of hunger that is very present in the world “that people are wandering in the wilderness in a desolate way.”
Remember the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years that should have been an 11-day trip? “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3
As followers of Jesus Christ, we know there is a hunger in every person that can only be fulfilled by the love of God. When that hunger remains unfed, people go searching for ways to feed it. Some turn to things like the latest fashions, cars, houses, or toys! Others attempt to fill it with drugs, alcohol, pornography, or unhealthy relationships. And there are those who try to feed it with food, hobbies, gossip, or work.
We only need to look around at the world and see that people are starving for God. People keep searching, but there is only one thing that can take away the hunger . . . and that is their Creator.
This leads me to looking inward. Am I – are you — examples of the abundant life in Christ so that the hungry want what we have? Do churches offer the food that hungry people need so they can partake in the only Bread that will satisfy their hunger forever? Do the hungry even know that we have food?
I believe God is calling us to be fruitful examples of the blessed life we have in Christ. Our love, peace and success should look so good, and it should be so attractive that men, women, families, and youth are rushing to our doors to get fed the rich manna God so passionately wants to give them.
But, first of all — to be that example, we must get our lives into God’s successful and abundant ways. God must be placed first in our lives and then we take seriously our role as His children and His ambassadors. We need to get our bodies in shape, our finances in order, and our relationshps and attitudes under control — all to be examples of our Creator’s design!
It’s not easy, but it is more rewarding than we can even know. This familiar scripture in Proverbs 3:5-6 says it all, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
“All our ways” means every part of our lives . . . “acknowledge Him” means to have direct, intimate contact with God. When we get passionate for God and His way of living . . . then we will have a life so attractive that the hungry will run to us for food. I want to be like that! How about you?