Are You Hungry?

I'm sure you've heard people talk about being hungry for God. We sing songs about it, hear messages about it, and even pray for hunger. This talk has been especially big around City of Life, as the spiritual climate escalates and we prepare to experience more of the supernatural than ever before. My pastor mentioned recently that he didn't believe that God could MAKE anyone hungry, and, in fact, to pray for God to stir up a hunger or make us hungry for Him was an impossible request. He asserted that we have to make ourselves hungry.

You know, when I first heard him say this, I was a little offended! I had prayed, "God, make me hungry for you" many times! But the more I think about it, the more I believe him to be true.

There are many theories about why we become physically hungry for food. However, most scientists agree that hunger has a physiological part and a psychological part. First, the physiological part: our bodies were created with certain chemicals like insulin and glucose, along with hormones, that cause us to be hungry. In a quest to regulate these chemicals, we become hungry until our brain and stomach are satisfied.

Then there's the psychological part. No doubt you've looked at the clock around noon (or whatever time you usually eat lunch) and become hungry simply because of the learned behavior of eating at a certain time. I know this from teaching. One year my class had a 10:30 a.m. lunch. I've never been a breakfast eater, and the thought of eating so early in the day was a little strange to me. But yet, a few weeks into the school routine, when 10:25 would roll around, my stomach would begin growling at the thought of lunch. Or what about the psychological affect that our senses have on hunger? You may not be hungry, but sometimes hearing the McDonald's jingle and smelling their delicious french fries is enough to make you take on the dollar menu! (If you're like me, your thoughts are now calculating the length of the drive from where you are right now to the nearest McDonalds. Stay with me here! Focus!!!)

At any rate, spiritual hunger has the same components. God created you with an innate, inborn desire for Him. Kind of like the physical component of hunger - it's built in. We've all heard the "man was created with a God-shaped hole" message a thousand times, right? In the core of all of us is a hunger for God. The wise ones fill it with God. Yet most attempt to satiate it with whatever is available that tickles our fancy and comes at the least cost to us. Slapping the snooze alarm a few times is easier than getting up and spending time with God. It makes us feel good. It fills (for a time) that need, that hunger, for God. We fill our lives with work, family, entertainment, church, friends... all GOOD things, yet none of which can truly satisfy that deep hunger. If the hunger for God isn't filled with God, then all of other pursuits are basically idolatry. Ouch.

The problem with filling your spiritual hunger with things that aren't God is that eventually, it shows. Just like a strict diet of mountain dew and sausage pizza would lead to vitamin deficiencies and weight gain, thus causing a physical manifestation of what you've been taking in to your body, a diet of idols eventually shows in your disposition, your faith, and the fruit that your life produces.

And then there's this other component of hunger for God, the learned part, similar to the psychological aspect of physical hunger. I believe that there's a mental component to our hunger for God. Being around people who stir you up, who encourage you to press in for more of God, has an effect on your desire for God. "Like iron sharpens iron," sometimes we are driven to search for God because the people around us encourage us to. We see our pastors and spiritual leaders delving into Bible study and teaching us out of the rich treasures they discover, and it inspires us. We hear believers around us praying passionately, using different words and different communication styles than we've ever heard, and it pushes us to go further in our prayer lives.

Just as your environment can encourage you to pursue more with God, it can also dissuade you. I've been in circumstances where I am hanging around new people, and when one of them asks me, "Are you hungry?" I make a casual statement like, "I could eat," or "I'm ok," even though my stomach is growling and I am ravenous. Or like when you go to a restaurant with a bunch of girls, and you're really hungry, but the others order salads with fat-free dressing, it dissuades you from ordering that big greasy bacon cheeseburger that you have been craving all day. In these environments, I choose to limit my expression of hunger because of my surroundings... I don't want to seem out of place, or greedy, or look unladylike. When we surround ourselves with people who have low standards and who mock those who pursue God in a deeper way than the norm, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Their hunger (or lack thereof) will mirror itself in our hunger.

The word says in Psalms that "Deep calls to deep." I believe that spiritual disciplines, such as regular, daily Bible study, is tough at first. It's a LEARNED process. But as you get further in, deep calls to deep, and the more you do, the more you want. What starts as a learned, environmental thing becomes something that possesses you and drives you.

So, are you hungry? Honestly? If your answer is no, then why not? Stir YOURSELF up. Examine the areas that you may've replaced your desire for God with different things, and then clean house! Get them out of your life! Surround yourself with people who are hungrier than you are, and let their hunger rub off on you.

God wants to fill your hunger. Why pick at a salad when he wants to be your cheeseburger? :-)