Spiritual Hunger and Thirst

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

Matthew 5:6 NKJV

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Are you hungry and thirsty for God?

Hunger and thirst are natural physical cravings necessary for survival.

We can either ignore this craving, satisfy this craving, or indulge this craving.

We can seek to satisfy our hunger and thirst with the right food and drink or with what is harmful.

Junk food may give us a temporary sense of satisfaction but it will leave our bodies deficient and craving what they really need.

Soul Hunger

Soul hunger is characterized by restlessness in the soul

Is your soul restless?

Journal Entry (February 16, 2020) “Many are consumed by restlessness in their soul. They are never satisfied. They are never at peace. They are never at rest. They have no anchor. They have no commitment. They have no self-control. They are distracted by everything. They gravitate to the sensational. They run after everything that glitters. They are on a constant quest for more. They are consumed with a sense of entitlement. Everything revolves around them. They live for the moment. They cannot be still. They are in a never-ending search for a greater experience and the ultimate high. They are trapped in a cycle of highs and lows where the lows get lower. They are in a continual search for something elusive. They seek what that they do not know and cannot find. They are never content. Why? Contentment is not something on the outside. It is something on the inside. It is found in a living relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the Bread of Life that satisfies the hunger of the soul. He is the Living Water that quenches the thirsty soul. He is the Source of peace, joy, contentment, and rest.”

Soul hunger drives us in our search for satisfaction.

Proverbs 16:26 (NKJV) “The person who labors, labors for himself, for his hungry mouth drives him on.”

Satisfaction produces contentment or rest. Have you ever wanted to lay down and take a nap after eating a satisfying meal?

What is driving you?

Blaise Paschal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

John 4:13–14 (NKJV) “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’”

The woman’s response: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” (John 4:15)

When Jesus satisfies your soul, you no longer need what you once thought you needed. Jesus is all you want because He is all you need.

John 6:35 (NKJV) “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

Is your soul hungry?

Is your soul thirsty?

Does your soul crave for inner satisfaction, contentment, and rest?

Come to Jesus. Only He can satisfy the hunger and thirst in your soul.

Isaiah 55:1–3 (NKJV) “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you— the sure mercies of David.”