I needed to lose some weight. An article on this subject instructed me to eat until I was full. Full often has different meanings to different people. The writer clarified what he meant. He said to eat until you notice you are no longer tasting or savoring your food. This is a signal from your gut, a real live gut feeling, to stop filling the corners and packing the spaces. 

Our Dinnerly subscription helps with this. This service sends us three meals per week. We have Chick fil A and tacos the rest of the time. (No, not really. Well, kinda.) Dinnerly servings are designed for two people. Meals take about thirty minutes to prepare. They include enough servings for two people and no more. This makes cleanup easier. It also keeps us from overstuffing ourselves. 

Eating just enough today demonstrates faith that God will provide just enough again tomorrow. He is really good at answering the simple prayer, “Give us today our daily bread.” Just as he provided for the wilderness wanderers in the Book of Exodus, so he provides for those who depend on him and trust him now. 

A good appetite for good things in good measure produces good outcomes. 

• How’s your appetite?
• How disciplined are you in stopping when you’re full?
• How good are the good things you long for day by day and moment by moment?

These questions may sound uncomfortably invasive. Sorry about that. I ask them because the guy sitting in my chair and typing on this keyboard that fails to respond to my command to enter an “S” about every fifth or sixth time ponders these nagging questions pretty regularly. 

The Bible says a lot about hunger and thirst. Most of what it says in this regard is that we are to hunger and thirst for God. That’s why fasting is such an important discipline. Growling stomachs and hunger pangs remind us to talk to God about what we need. They remind us to thank God for all the good things he pours out on us every day. 

Fasting reminds us to lean into our physical hunger which helps us develop spiritual hunger which God always and forever satisfies with his own goodness and love. Hunger for food is not the only thing that can drive us to God. What other desires are active in your life? Rather than seeking to fulfill them in an unhelpful and unhealthy manner, use them as opportunities to dive deeper into God’s love and grace for the moment. 

The Got Milk campaign has been so effective over the decades that just about everybody knows it. Maybe we can start a Got God campaign. This is not about a new bracelet and t-shirt business. This is about driving us to our knees in dependence and trust, yearning and gratitude. Our Father in Heaven satisfies far more and far longer than even a King Size Snickers bar. 

Got God? Invite him to create a hunger and thirst within you that can only be satisfied by knowing and experiencing him. Indulge yourself in his goodness and grace, his mercy and compassion. Luxuriate in his provision. Share out of the overflow with every other hungry soul.

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I will hunger and thirst for God and all of his goodness.

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Our Father, thank you for giving us hunger to drive us in the right direction. Forgive us for allowing hunger to take us where we don’t need to go. Bless us with pure hunger and thirst that can only find satisfaction in you. Empower us to nourish others with all the goodness you pour into our lives. Amen.