What happens with you when you get hungry and there’s no food in sight? Do you shut down, withdraw or mellow out? Or maybe you have a hard time concentrating on the task at hand, like me. Then again, you might behave like this:
Funny how the folks who make and sell Snickers candy bars seem to have tapped into something beyond sugar lows and cravings for chocolate. They’ve hit a similar chord as I address in week one of my new Bible study, Satisfied…at Last! Our hungers drive us to act needy, to demand things from the people in our lives, and, as the commercial pointed out, to turn into completely different people than we truly are, often in the form of a diva or a drama queen.
But while our physical hungers may be satisfied with a chewy, chocolaty Snickers bar, we can’t feed our souls with candy, though some of us have certainly tried. Our souls are hungry for deeper and bigger things. Things like significance, unconditional love, purpose, affirmation, forgiveness, and companionship.
Still, Jesus knows we get hungry. He acknowledges our soul hunger and longs to feed it with good, abundant, and healthy stuff, just like he insisted on feeding the multitudes who followed Him in John 6. And when we allow Him to feed us (instead of trying to quell our grumbling souls with Snickers or shopping or angry tirades or clingy relationships), He will satisfy us so that we can truly be ourselves again. Not only that, but we can be a better and improved version of ourselves. No more drama queens. No more high maintenance. No more leaches. Just healthy, joyful, and giving people … who are a lot easier to get along with.
We all need that spiritual nourishment. This is a great post, Kay. Just what I needed to read this day!