Pastor Tyler’s Blog

HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU?

 

Last week my wife brought home an orphaned kitten that was found on the NNU campus.  She brought it home and since then we have been adjusting to raising this little guy without any knowledge of what we are doing.  We’ve gotten the necessary items to take care of it, a litter box, food, and of course the little toys that kittens love to chase after. 

We came to name our new family member Sader, in light of the fact he was rescued from NNU’s campus.  Sader is short for Crusader, and as we thought of a name, that’s the one that stuck. 

 

After a week now of caring for this little fur ball my wife made an interesting observation.  Our little kitten loves to play, but after playing for awhile he’ll start to bite and nibble at our hands.  He’ll start to whine and cry, and we know he does that because he’s hungry.  The interesting thing however is he has to be convinced to go eat.  The practice we have is when we are sure he’s hungry we put a little food on our finger and he will then lick it off.  It’s at that time that he’ll finally walk the rest of the way to his food dish to begin eating.

 

The observation that my wife made is that, this little kitten knows he is hungry and yet doesn’t really know what to do about it.  His instinct currently isn’t to go find his food dish, but to whine and cry and bite my wife and I who are trying to care for it.  We know what he needs, but is stubborn about allowing us to provide for that need.  Sound familiar?

 

Now I am not a cat person, but God through this new member of our family revealed to my wife and then to me the reality that there are times I’m hungry for Him, and yet I act as though I don’t know where to go to get fed.  I’m too busy playing and having fun with my toys to stop and go eat.  I then get cranky and whiny when I wonder where my food is.

 

Let me apply it in this way.  God watches us when we play, he keeps an eye on us hoping we don’t get ourselves caught in a tree or in trouble somewhere.  He hears us when we start to whine or when we start to cry out for help.  He then watches as we then resist or “bite” the very hand trying to reach down and take us to our food dish.  He knows what we need, we know what we need, and yet we sometimes are too stubborn or too distracted to let him direct us to the very thing He knows we need. 

 

It’s easy in our culture of busy living, hobbies, and comfort to neglect the thing our soul cries out for the most.  It’s natural for us to cry out for help when we’re in search of something to satisfy our longing.  It’s typical for us to try and find it in our own way, rather than let God pick us up and take us to the dish. 

 

God is so good at putting a little milk on his finger and giving us a taste of what He has to offer us, and how He wants to provide for us, yet there are many who expect God to feed us that way all the time.  God lays before us a food dish to satisfy our hunger…that dish…is His very word.  The truth of God’s word has the ability to feed us in a way that gives us strength, energy and excitement for Him.  It is the Bread we are to live by, yet we seem to forget where to go when we are hungry. 

 

My wife and I have made food available for our kitten whenever he wants it, and in a place he can easily access it.  God has done the same for us.  He has provided for our very need and made it accessible for us.  How loud is your soul groaning for food?  Are you satisfied with a few drops of milk from the Father’s finger, or do you crave something more?  May I encourage you today…let us all remember where are “food dish” is and make sure we never lose sight of where to go when we are hungry.  Let’s not wait until we’re so hungry we have to cry out for God to feed us, but let us get in the habit of feeding our spirit daily from what God has made available to us. 

 

So let me ask the question…how hungry are you today?