Hunger Pangs

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Psalms 23:1-3

I’ve had more than one counselor attempt to identify some childhood trauma or depression that led to my drug use. Perhaps there is some such reason for my addiction, but I’ve become convinced that I simply have an intense appetite for joy, peace and fulfillment. My problem is in how I try to satisfy that appetite.

We all have a soul and we were all made to connect that soul to God, finding our ultimate meaning, joy, peace and security in Him. We hunger for God, but because we are poorly practiced at finding Him and because it requires more effort to satiate ourselves in Him, we attempt to find satisfaction in the temporary desires of the flesh.

Though these are unstable, short-lived solutions to our soul’s hunger pangs, we still try to gratify ourselves with food, drugs, sex, affirmation, financial security, success, toys, beauty, strength or money. We rely on things, friends, or family to fill a need that only God can fill.

It’s not that money and food are bad. We all need money and we all need to eat. It is that we hunger for the divine, while attempting to fill that need with the earthly. We starve for God, but we eat a donut. We do this because we find a temporary fix in our flesh. The drug addict finds solace in the drug. The food addict finds it in food. The solutions found in the flesh though, will always be inadequate to satisfy or soul and will always lead to more angst, anxiety, and unrest.

If we want to know true joy, peace and fulfillment, we must learn to satisfy our spiritual hunger in God alone. When we are restless, we must go to Him for rest. When we are agitated, we must go to Him for comfort. We must learn to understand our appetites and we must daily turn to God to satisfy our spiritual hunger pangs. He restores my soul.