A Hunger for God

The sustenance that the world brings us is like a diner burger compared to the Lord’s sustenance of an authentic homemade Italian feast. The world in all its distractions, can in some ways seem to gratify the soul, and can fill us to some extent. The world can distract us enough to feel like we’re satisfied. It is a short-lived and circumstance dependent sort of satisfaction, but a satisfaction none the less. This sort of fleeting, restless gratification, makes no room for the truly deep, resilient, and restful contentment we only find in the presence of God. When we fast, we are pushing back at all the nibbling at the table of the world, that distracts us from the main course, which is the Holy Spirit and presence of God. We are cultivating a hunger for God in our fasting season. Hungry people are healthy people. As followers of Jesus, if we’re not hungry, this is an indicator that something is wrong. When we’re not hungry, we need to ask ourselves what is the thing that is holding us back from deep hunger and thirst for God. In the Kingdom of God, hunger begets more hunger for the Lord. This is a marker of a healthy believer. It’s confronting things that cannot go with us in the next season and cultivating a life-giving hunger for God. We need to lean into the un-comfortability of fasting. We are not trying to beat ourselves up, earn something new with God, or impress others. The reason we are fasting is to seek the presence of God.