Have you ever been so hungry that you couldn’t get full? No matter what you ate you were like a bottomless pit? Or, have you ever been hungry but you couldn’t figure out what you wanted? You just couldn’t put your finger on what would satisfy you?
Empty and Unsatisfied…
This does not only have to be a condition of the stomach. It can be a condition of the soul. The attempt to feed the soul in this case just leaves you craving more. Somehow, no matter how much you get of alone time with God, bible study, Sunday mornings in church, Christian living books, blogs, and other sources meant to fill your sou, and nurture your relationship with God you are left wanting and unsatisfied.
Poured Out
When we come before the Lord to be fed with the Word and filled with righteousness it is necessary for us to pour ourselves out so that we can have room to receive. If you are going before the throne carrying burdens, pain, fear, worry, or something you are not willing to pour out before God, then there is something standing in the way of you being filled with what you need and you will leave unsatisfied.
Then there are times when we have ministered to others in such a fashion that going to the Word has become what we do to prepare to feed others. In preparation we are forgetting to be fed ourselves. We have placed our personal intimate relationship with Christ on the back burner. No one is capable of having our relationship with God but us. So when we realize that the relationship has been neglected and we have poured out all our reserves, we end up completely empty and unable to give any longer.
It’s Time to Let Go
If you have something you are holding back from God it is time to let it go. Pour it out as an offering before Him. Honor Him with it even if it is only your tears…bathe His feet with them. In this way you are a vessel that can be filled…a soul that can be fed.
You Need Intensive Care
If you are finding that you can not get full, and are left wanting with every portion you are fed from God, then you need intensive care. You may need a feeding tube. Whether that is in the shape of a conference, a weekend with God alone, or a retreat. You need time where God can minister to you and your relationship can be restored. This will not completely restore it, but just like a weekend away with a spouse or your family it will grow intimacy and strengthen relationship.
Remember…
Feeding the soul properly is a God thing. There are many things out there that promise to fill us up, but their fill is only temporary. When we get the real food our soul needs we get a double portion. Enough for us and some to share.
Bonnie at FaithBarista.com is hosting a series this month on Feeding the Soul. Click here or visit the Healing for the Soul page for a link to her series. Beloved, Here are some scriptures about hunger, and remember…..Our Hope Endures.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 NKJV
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. John 6:35 NKJV
16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore Revelation 7:16 NKJV
Another Samaritan Woman 