God Satisfies My Hunger

By Robin Day

Over the past years of living in Spain as a missionary, having been confronted by a different culture and living among people who have a very different value system and way of looking at the world around them, I began to learn a lot about myself. Some of the things I saw I liked, some other things... not so much. One thing in particluar that I saw in myself that I hadn't realized was there before was a tendancy to turn to books and resources other than the Word for any kind of spiritual help that I needed. When I lived in the States, if I had a question about parenting, for example, I would have driven to the nearby Christian bookstore and found the latest Christian book on parenting or if I needed help understanding God's grace or faith, I would have maybe bought a tape series on the subject. On the mission field, those resources are scarce at best, the nearest Christian bookstore is a little over a three hour drive away. I'm not saying that getting help from Christian books and tapes is bad, but living in a place where those things are not available, made me realize that I was turning to those sources for answers more often than I was turning to God and His Word. I was always getting His Word second hand.

On the Field, when everything else was stripped away, I realized what I had been doing and began to turn directly to God. I learned that getting His Word first hand was much richer and sweeter than getting it second hand. He became my source. Jesus said, "Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be filled". I asked God to help me hunger only for Jesus, who is my righteousness, and to turn my eyes away from worthless things. His Word began to fuel my prayers and my heart. My cravings were quenched, I started looking to Jesus to fill me and satisfy me in the morning with His unfailing love. A change began to take place in my heart. I found that in the past, I had allowed myself to be satisfied with a lot of different things. When I needed something, I would turn to this or that or the other...but God was who I needed to turn to and it is only in Christ that I will ever have my thirst quenched and my hunger satisfied.

Psalm 17:14,15 says...
"You still the hunger of those You cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children. And I, in righteousness, I will see Your face; when I awake I will be satisfied with seeing Your likeness."

It's a good thing to be surrounded by resources that can help us through a difficult time or give us insight or a new perspective on something in God's Word now and then. But this same good thing can become detrimental to our spiritual life if we don't keep it in it's proper place. In a way, it's similar to food. Food is a good thing, it tastes great, we need it to live, it's wonderful to enjoy but it can also be abused. If we eat too much, if we focus too much attention on it, it becomes harmful instead of good. Simply put, if we eat too much food, we get fat and unhealthy. Supplemental Christian resources are good, but if we replace spending time with God and reading the Word with these things, we are missing out on God's richness flowing in our lives. It can make us unhealthy spiritually and we will never really be satisfied or filled because only God can do that.

I have learned to turn to God when I need comfort, and He comforts me every time. I have learned to go to God when I'm feeling restless and discontent, and He fills me every time. He more than satisfies my hunger. I don't want someone else to tell me about God, I want to go to Him directly and find out about Him for myself. It's much more rewarding and it is most definitely more satisfying. He is more than enough to satisfy my hunger and fulfill my needs and yours, too. He will still your hunger too, quiet your restlessness and still your heart. There's no reason to go through life hungry; just like I learned to do, you too, can live each day satisfied, having had plenty, fully satisfied by God.

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