I definitely like to eat — a lot. Ever since I was young, food has been a comfort. As I got older, certain foods were more comforting than others. Do you have go-to items for stress relief? For comfort? To escape after a difficult day? For me, coffee is a comfort. Chocolate is a comfort (I was born in Hershey — would you expect anything else?). I have particular items from particular fast food and local pizzerias that bring me comfort. A ham and cheese sub from A&M Pizza. My mouth waters just thinking about it. A Frosty from Wendy’s. Sadly, food is a great weakness for me. It is a crutch. Instead of dealing with an issue, I will cover it with a bandaid of extra calories.
It isn’t only with food that we have this issue of trying to comfort our brokenness. Some of us try to fill voids and hurts and painful areas in our lives by become workaholics, via vices like drinking or smoking or even drugs, sexual promiscuity, shopping (a lot), television binging, etc. We put a lot of bandaids on ourselves through the years. We have voids that are real and some that are perceived (meaning things we want that we think will fix everything once we receive).
The verse today notes that God gave people what they wanted and yet they starved. Think of all of the times you said “if only.” If only I won the lottery, I could get out of debt and I wouldn’t have all of this stress. If only I would find a decent person to date, I would be complete. If only I had a better house/car, life would be different. If only I lost the weight. If only I had a college degree. If only. Don’t get me wrong — the “if only” desires aren’t necessarily always bad. We can dream.
So what’s the issue? The issue is our souls starving. Our souls starve when we are not aligned with the Father. Piece by piece, when we take something in place of Him, we become malnourished. Yes, some of us can limp along, missing some morsels from the Father, and we will still make it to the finish line. But imagine all that we miss with Him when we only get what we want in place of Him. Imagine if He gives you what you want to eat, to enjoy, to use, to reside in, to drive, etc., and our souls starve away because we chose something else over Him? Imagine.
Our God is a great Provider and Sustainer. What we need, He provides. Always. The wants we have— we must ask ourselves — are these the things I want to build my life upon? Are we centered in Him? Are we starving? When we are feeling broken, lacking, alone, hungry— do we first seek Him?
“So you gave them what they wanted to eat, but their souls starved away to nothing.” – Psalm 106:15 [TPT]
Tania Gutekunst 