Daily Devotional

Traveling is not easy. Beyond the airport hassles, lost luggage, and exhausting ministry schedule comes the challenge of maintaining a regular eating schedule.

In my experience:

• Europeans have a heavy breakfast and a late dinner.
• Asians eat very early and very late.
• Italians eat whenever and wherever—Mangiare! (My husband had me throw that in!).

Hunger is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “a craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient.” It is that uneasy sensation occasioned by a prolonged lack of food.

Here is what I have noticed about my own seasons of spiritual hunger:
It is easy to recognize when I need spiritual food, but I do not always seek to be fed. Sometimes, I ignore the symptoms and let them go with the result that I am more and more miserable. I experience “spiritual hunger pains.”

Here are my symptoms:

• I suffer with an unsettled and uneasy feeling—a deep-seated hunger in my spirit.
• I experience loneliness—an emptiness that cannot be filled by friends and family.
• I struggle with the temptation—e.g., complaining, anger, etc.
• I succumb to sin—which temporarily separates me from my awareness of God’s presence.

Jesus spent forty days fasting in the wilderness. At the end of those long days, He was obviously hungry. Who wouldn’t be?

The devil saw this as an opportunity to tempt Jesus:
Matthew 4:3 - “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Jesus knew that the Tempter was not just appealing to His physical hunger; he was trying to get Jesus’s eyes off His Heavenly Father and Jesus knew it. In answer, He quoted the latter part of an Old Testament verse found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 8:3 - “…man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

I know what to do when the symptoms of spiritual hunger happen:

• I am to pray and ask the Lord for forgiveness for ignoring my craving for His Word.
• I am to thank God who is always ready to fill me with His Spirit.
• I am to make myself sit down and chew on the Word of God.
• I am to ask God to help me come eagerly to His table tomorrow—and the next day and the next.

And when I do, my spiritual hunger will be satisfied!

Matthew 5:6 - “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

“Dear God, please help me recognize when I am hungry for You. Help me see that my uneasiness, my loneliness, and my sin is because I need your Word to feed my soul.”

PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, TEACHERS:

1. As you prepare to have a meal with the kids…explain there is more than just a physical hunger in your tummy. We can also get spiritually hungry for the “food” of God’s Word or the “food” of prayer.  Explain what that feels like and what they do about it.
   
   
2. Memorize Matthew 5:6 together.
   
   
3. Remind your kids that God is always with them and helping them.

Interested in following along with a past 40 Days for Life devotional?

For more information, visit campusbiblechurch.com/40days

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation