Emotional Hunger

Have you ever craved a certain food, but after you had eaten it the craving was still there? It could be that it was a natural manifestation of something spiritual. A spiritually barren heart searches for anything that will satisfy. If the satisfaction does not come from the Lord, it will be a futile search.

I was waking up with hunger pangs in the middle of the night. I had eaten a good supper, but it felt like real hunger. At the time I was going through an intense trial. God used it to expose my unmet emotional need that was created from buried emotional pain.

He showed me that it was not hunger from lack of food, but emotional hunger from lack of intimacy. When I drew near and focused my thoughts on the Lord, the physical manifestation of my emotional hunger disappeared

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” 

Do the words that the Lord speaks to you thrill your heart? Do they satisfy your deepest longings? I love his words of insight. They fill my empty void with light and life. They come straight from his heart to mine, and they speak to my need at the moment.

When we don’t recognize that our longings and unmet needs are creating emotional hunger, we will look for a quick means of satisfaction. Rather than asking the Holy Spirit to quench that need, we do something in our own strength to satisfy it. Yet, there is no true emotional satisfaction apart from the Lord.

Father, I ask you to reveal the hidden emotional pain buried in our heart. Deepen our spiritual hunger until we find our satisfaction in you alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Throughout This Day: Ask God to show you what you might be turning to as a substitute to rest in him. Take time to talk to him about that situation, inviting him to show you how to turn to him in your time of need.