Once after playing paintball all day and getting dehydrated, I had thought that I was really hungry. Once my friend and I got to the restaurant we were going too, we ended up drinking two full pitchers of water each while waiting for our food. Turns out we were both simply really thirsty. I think we took our food home in to go boxes to enjoy later. We thought we needed food, when we really needed water. We had misplaced our hunger.
Last week we started by talking about a song called A Team by Ed Sheeran, and how it reflects our cultures understanding of hunger and addiction. You can read about that here. We also talked about how we’re all worshipers and addiction is by design, the issue is what we’re addicted to…what we worship.
By the nature of the overflow that created us, we were designed to overflow back into God. This is the origin of our hunger. We were designed to be hungry, then be filled, then have that hunger grow, then be filled, then grow, etc. We were designed to have our thankfulness overflow back into God. This is the nature of worship.
However, what we do is we misplace our hunger with things other than God. We let our overflow terminate on ourselves. We misplace our hunger and it ends up being this continual loop back on ourselves. This is the nature of addiction.
This realization went from the 1000 foot level to the ground level several years ago while in Scotland. Some friends and I sat down with a girl at a pub there for several hours. When she walked into the bar she would have, by her own words, stated that she was an atheist. She also had a continual heroin addiction. By the end of a few hours of talking, she walked out crying and stating that she believed Jesus was her last hope. Now there was a lot that transpired, including the Holy Spirit coming in and doing His thing. However, what I’d like to point out is that the one thing I never spoke to her about is that she needs to stop using heroin. I spoke to her about how she really wanted Jesus and that she was simply misplacing her hunger.
You’ll notice I’m interchanging worship and addiction. I see them as the same. To sum up, we were created out of an overflow of joy from God, everything in creation is designed cause joy in us that will point us to God, and that joy is to overflow back into God. That is worship, it’s also addiction.
Part of the reason this was so powerful, is the same reason that Sheeran’s song was such a hit. It simply reflects what everyone feels. By our very nature we are hungry. We are always looking to be filled. The things we would naturally go for to solve our hunger problems are usually the things that, instead of giving us life, begin to terminate on themselves, and then terminate us. They suck the life out of us until there’s nothing left.
The way the culture feels this addictive nature, could be cause for great hopelessness. However, this is also great cause for hope. You see, this nature, is simply the product of our nature. It’s the product of how we were created. It’s something God created and put into us. That longing is simply a reflection of the God who created us. This is something everyone feels and it points everyone to a deeper reality. It points people to what they’re really hungry for. Our culture is hungry, our culture is longing for something bigger and deeper. God is great. He is sufficient. He cares and is pulling people towards Himself. So as you talk to people who don’t yet know Him, have hope, take courage. They’re hungry, they’re waiting. In Him, you have the answers they’re looking for. Give them Him.
Is this helpful? How do you deal with your own hunger? Does the A Team ring true with the people around you? How are you giving people an answer to their hunger?