Devotional for 4/26/15
There are times when we have all experienced being hungry or thirsty. Sometimes it is just a little "twinge" in our empty stomach. At other times it is an all-out roaring growl heard across the room! And they say once you feel thirsty, you are already a bit dehydrated. We can get cranky when we are hungry, and can feel dizzy when dehydrated. If bad enough, a person can even pass out. But this is nothing compared to what those who are starving and have next to nothing to eat or drink go through daily.
We eat and we drink to sustain our life. Yet we still get hungry and thirsty. It takes more than just eating one time or drinking once in our lives to survive. We must take in nutrition and fluids regularly in order to function well and be healthy. We can fast for a while, some of us longer than others. Granted, some of us could use a few less calories on a regular basis! But eventually we must break the fast and eat and drink once again.
Sustaining our souls is much like preserving our physical lives with food and water. We must regularly partake of God's Word in order to not only grow our faith but also to keep it healthy. If we go on a starvation diet and depart from God and studying His Word, then our faith will starve until it dies. At some point we must let the Spirit free us from that deathly trap of separating ourselves from God and stop turning away from Him. Thank God for his forgiveness of our wandering hearts.
Psalm 107:4-9 (NIV) Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their stress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Dear Lord, provider of all good things, feed us with your Word and help us to inwardly digest all that you have to teach us. Help us to grow spiritually and share your saving grace with others, bringing them to your banquet table. In Jesus' name, Amen.
written by Jan Andersen
We are made of body, soul, and spirit and all of these aspects of our human makeup must receive nourishment. We are sensitive to natural hunger which is easily perceptible. However, we often do not recognize when we are suffering from spiritual need of nourishment. We kind of drift away without not thinking much about it. Let us ask the Lord to make this poor nourishment apparent to us so that we can feed ourselves through attention to God and his precious word.
ReplyDeleteGod bless...