We humans are never satisfied. We always hunger for MORE. We want to have more money, more time, more energy, more blessings. It seems like we have these endless physical cravings that can’t be turned off. We always crave for MORE of the “good stuff” in life. This has been our basic struggle in life since the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
All of their needs were supplied abundantly in the Garden. God didn’t even limit them with how much they could receive, which means they could have as much as they wanted! And yet, the serpent lured and persuaded Eve into thinking that there was something missing and that God was withholding something “good” from them. So, Eve saw that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was “good for food”, ate it, and gave some to her husband. (Gen. 3:6). The rest, as we know, is the historical downfall of the human race into generations and generations of sinning against God. And it simply started with Eve’s thinking that what God had given them was “not enough.”
And the same goes with us. We, too, can have plenty and yet, just like Adam and Eve, we can still be convinced that we don’t have enough. And are we aware of what this insatiable hunger for more does to our souls? AFFLICTION.
The Source of Our Affliction
This is the danger of wanting more. Unconsciously, we bring our souls harm and affliction with our limitless appetite. How so? The enemy afflicts us with doubt that what God gives us is not enough, or that it is not the right provision for us. This means that the enemy annoys, bothers, torments, tortures, oppresses, and agonizes us with thoughts that contradict God’s nature as our provider and the truths written in His Word.
Our appetite is the bait that the enemy uses to afflict us, just like what happened in the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. But Jesus knew that “man doesn’t live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”(Matthew 4:4) In others words, Jesus knew that there is something greater than “hunger” and the temptation to eat, and that is the life that comes from the very Word of God.
Another way we afflict ourselves is when we pick and choose the things God gives, as if we know better than Him. If you are a parent and your children only listen to you when they want to and only when they like what they hear, how would you feel?
Finding True Satisfaction
So how does this search for more get satisfied? How do we silence the fear of not having enough? We need to look at what Jesus did. Jesus chose to trust His Father. Jesus chose to believe that every Word that the Father spoke to Him was a Word that He needed.
Jesus lived a life of always hearing from His Father, speaking to His Father, and letting His Father sustain Him. And this lifestyle showed how Jesus trusted the Father with His life.
One word to describe how Jesus’ saw the Father’s Words is “essential.” Jesus knew every Word from His Father mattered. There were no throw away words. Likewise, we ought to see God’s Word and the role that it plays in our lives as essential, and not treat it as optional, trivial, or even a luxury that we can’t afford.
When we begin to receive daily every Word that comes from the mouth of God as essential, then we begin to be satisfied. Every morsel that Jesus gives us through His Word satisfies our hunger in a way that the “things of this world” can never do.
The key to finding true satisfaction is to feast daily on God’s Word. That as you eat of His bread, every hunger and thirst that your soul has will be satisfied. After all, Jesus told us that HE is the bread of life. (John 6:35).
