Three Reminders When You're Hungry for More Than You Have
No one desires hunger. We like feeling full, don’t we? Neither our rumbling desires nor our lacking longings are welcomed with joy, so we tend to spend our time and money to find fullness. What is the help for our hunger, if not more resources?
The answer is found in the words Paul penned in Philippians 4: the help for our hunger is to learn the secret of going hungry. Wait, what? If the cure for our hunger is not living full, but learning to live hungry, then how can we grow in gratitude for hunger? How can we celebrate the ‘less than’ over the ‘more than’ of this life?
Let’s turn to scripture to continue guiding our thoughts. I pray these three reminders help when you feel hungry for more than what life allows in this season.
Our resources don’t make us feel full.
I met a young mother recently who shared her coping mechanism for survival in the early years. She shared openly about her trips to Target, Lowe’s, Starbucks—anywhere to fill the time and calm her nerves. She said she keeps coming home with fruit trees and recently invested in a Persimmon tree! (And now is searching what to do with persimmons.) I laughed loudly, but goodness how I relate.
In my desperate attempt to feel full or to fill the emptiness of time, I spend randomly and seek aimlessly, searching for satisfaction. Luke 1:53 reminds us that even in our hunger, God promises to be the one to fill us.
“[God] has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” (ESV)
It’s helpful to remember that our earthly resources are not what make us feel full. My heart needs to remember that God not only satisfies our hunger, but he does so with good things.
Reflect: What is harder for you to believe in this season: that God is the only one that makes your heart feel full, or that He promises to fill your life with good things?
more money will not quench our love of money.
Over the past six months, I wish I could tell you how many times I thought “if only we had more money, I wouldn’t feel this way”, or “if only we had more money, this problem would go away”. Anyone else? Car problems, college tuition, food prices, you name it, have each contributed to my cries for more money.
Life has taught me otherwise, but my heart still thinks that the solution to the problem is more of the problem. The truth is that if I received more money, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. However, it would almost guarantee that my love of money would grow as well. Receiving more money many times creates more blessings and complications, but it is no guarantee for true freedom and joy.
King Solomon reminds us of this truth in Ecclesiastes 5:10-12:
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
As we continue this journey, let’s remember the good news that even as our hearts wrestle with the love of money, we can be satisfied with the steadfast love of God. One way I’ve found to help my heart grow in satisfaction with the love of God, is to remind myself of his love each morning before my eyes have a chance to wander.
Psalm 143:8, “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.
Reflect: What is one practice you can adopt in your rhythms and routines that will help you wrestle against the love of money?
3.god will supply all of your needs.
If there’s one verse that is continually taken out of context and quoted for personal gain over spiritual contentment it is Philippians 4:13. Am I right?
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
This verse is applied to anything from winning football games to cooking dinner every night. And while it most certainly may apply, the context of this verse is altogether different. It’s about contentment. And not just any contentment—it’s about learning to live hungry.
Here Paul shares his own personal testimony with us in verses 11-12:
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
So, Paul, tell us: what is your secret? He responds that he learned to live hungry, rather than constantly seek out fullness here and now. But, how? Let’s keep reading.
I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:18-19)
Paul speaks from experience that we can do all things, even learn to live hungry, because he has seen how God provided for his needs in full. Paul can confidently encourage us that God will supply our every need , not according to the riches of the world like greater income, nor receiving our every desire, but in Jesus. Our greatest need is not more money, but to be saved from ourselves and our own desires. I’m so grateful that Jesus died to offer us a better way.
Reflect: Do you tend to trust more in your Savior or in your savings? What peace does it bring to know that God will provide for your every need?
Friends, as we walk forward, continue the good fight of faith, and allow these reminders to help when you’re hungry for more than what you have in this season.
Confess your love of money.
Trust in your Savior over your savings.
Continue to live hungry, confident that God promises to fill you with good things.
He will provide for your every need. Thanks be to God.
Want more? Read here for another reflection on How to Stay Hungry.