It Starts Small

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

Happiness and hunger never seems to belong in the same sentence. We associate hunger with being hangry. When was the last time you were happy to be hungry? Not the kind of hunger that demands a cheese burger and fries. The kind of hunger in your spirit? When did you hunger and thirst after righteousness?

To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 1 Corinthians 4:11

Have you ever experienced this in your journey through life? Both literally and spiritually I have. The deepest and greatest hunger I have found is in my spirit. The strong desire to know and understand, to learn and seek, to be righteous in God’s eyes. The greatest desire I have ever felt was the hunger for knowledge and truth. A truth to satisfy. A truth to teach. A truth to heal. A truth to love. A truth to forgive. A truth to be merciful.

The world does not seek satisfaction in righteousness. It seeks its happiness in money, alcohol, drugs, sex, fame, fortune, a job, and other people. People who search for happiness never obtain it. Once they grasp what they think makes them happy, it looses its loveliness and again, the search for happiness is on. If you’re looking for happiness, you’ll never find it. You’ll never satisfy the spiritual hunger of happiness in this world.

Happiness is found by stumbling over it serving Jesus. Righteousness brings peace and joy to our lives and the byproduct is happiness. Sin and unhappiness and Siamese twins.

Symptoms of Spiritual Starvation

_{(This is what I have experienced and I’m sure there’s more to add to this list)}

Feeling weary and tired: our strength comes from the Lord. When I start starving in my spirit I get physically tired for no apparent reason. I feel weak and defeated.

Hope Slips Away: our Hope is in Jesus. I start to lend way to thoughts that everything is hopeless. God does not hear my prayers. He doesn’t care about what is going on. There’s no hope of tomorrow, just suffering in today.

Life is nothing but stress and Anxiety: I start worrying about tomorrow. I start forgetting the promises of God. I’m am bogged down by stress and worry.

Lax Prayer Life: My prayers get shorter and I have a hard time focusing on God in the moment of prayer. My mind wanders to everything but him.

Servants Heart Dissipates: I just go through the motions. My singing is just ritual. My reading is just because. My heart is no longer seeking to hear or to see.

A new voice emerges: I all together stop listening to the Holy Spirit. The voice that emerges is fear. Doubt. Unbelief.

When my spirit is starving, there’s warning bells going off all around me. I start to fall away. I start to shrink back inside that prison I had built. That shack I always hid in starts to be rebuilt and the walls I use to protect myself begin to grow. How do we spot these symptoms and what do we do with them?

Right Food and Right Water!

The answer….always the answer: Jesus.

Just like we need to put the right things in our body, we need to put the right kind of food and water in our spirit. Just as our body craves food, water, and adventure, our spirit craves the same thing.

³⁵ And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35

⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51

What is the bread Jesus speaks of? It’s the Word of God. Bread is the truth spoken in God’s Word. Our spirit cries out for teaching, understanding, revelation. It only comes from the word of God. Righteousness is only made possible by Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, our spirit is fed with truth.

When we feed our souls with him, we constantly return to him because he’s the only satisfaction. Just like physical hunger, we eat, but later return to the kitchen. The same is true for our spirit. Jesus speaks to our hearts through God’s Word and it satisfies us for a time, but once we are hungry, we can return to him to be satisfied.

How do we do this?

We have to change our mindset. We need to set our minds on the Holy Spirit.

⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5

We need to decide everyday to sit at the feast Jesus has prepared and stuff ourselves full of him. We set our minds to be:

Focused: we are single minded. A double mind has a split loyalty between the world and God. we have to surrender to God and be focused on him. Give him our loyalty and focus on Him.

Looking: We need to be humble. We need to be someone who is not looking for something to criticize, rather someone looking for Jesus. When we are not sure where to look, we ask. What do you want to teach me? Where is our path leading?

Seeking: We need to actively seek. We won’t get fed being a pew warmer. We won’t get fed giving God 5 minutes in the morning and throwing a generic prayer out. We need to actively week him in his Word.

Happiness in Hunger

There’s nothing like learning a new spiritual truth or God revealing and expanding a truth you already know. There’s great delight in God’s Word. The joy and peace of discovering new and old truths is what brings us real happiness through peace and joy.

The best advice I heard was a preacher who said go back to those childhood stories we all know so well. Ask yourself where do you fit into the story? Where is God in your story? What deep spiritual truth is being revealed about you and where you are in your journey? Sometimes, it begins with asking the right questions.

Find a way to express what your learning and share it with others. We are all very talented people! Maybe it’s a painting, poetry, writing, under water basket weaving (that’s for you dad), music, or sitting with trusted close friends and sharing. I find that just sharing what I’ve learned over this past year helps be to come back to the table eagerly to eat more! Sink my teeth into God’s Word and dig deeper.

Finally, there’s an amazing promise at the end of this verse! Jesus promises, if we keep coming to him, he will fill us! Nothing in this world will ever satisfy your spirit. Happiness will never be found in the world. Only Jesus can fill our appetites and needs.