Hungry?

Psalm 63:1-2
“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.”

Have you ever had one of those times when you are craving something, but you are not sure what it is? When that happens to me I tend to keep trying things, in an attempt to satisfy a craving that I cannot define. What is true with physical hunger, is also true in the spiritual realm. God created us with a need for Him. This need evidences itself with a desire to find meaning in life, answers to what lies beyond this life, and a craving to worship.

Man is incurably religious due to his built-in hunger to know God. This hunger to know God is sometimes clouded by the sinful world in which we live, and by personal experiences. Many, knowing an emptiness within, fail to recognize that it is a spiritual craving to know God. They attempt to satisfy it with relationships, substances, or experiences. Often, these very attempts to satisfy the cravings within, become addictions or leave us scarred. Instead of satisfying our need for God, they fill the spiritual hole within us with junk, which may take a lifetime to get out.

After meeting God, David went on to declare that his soul was satisfied. Meeting God does that. Once you have come to God through Christ, you no longer need to hunt around for spiritual satisfaction, you are satisfied. However, if you have truly met Him, you develop a new hunger. This is a hunger that keeps you coming to Him for more.

David did not write this Psalm as an unbeliever who just met the Lord, but as a godly man desiring to know God better. David gives insight to properly fulfilling our built-in hunger for God. He says, “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary.” While it is true that God is everywhere, and we cannot hide from Him, it is also true, there are places where we will have a greater chance of meeting with Him, and hearing from Him. It is much easier to hear, when we gather with the people of God in corporate worship. David, knowing his hunger was for God, made his way to the sanctuary, where he was sure to meet with God.

Pastor Jim