Hungry Heart

Bruce Springsteen once wrote that "Everybody's got a hungry heart." (Now that I've got humming along...) The lyrics of the song are very sad, o not the ballad story kind of sad, but a sad existence of hurt and betrayal, brokenness, adultery, and loneliness. In fact, it's kind of depressing. And somewhat true. Everybody does have a hungry heart. It's what we feed it that really matters.

Throughout Israel/Judah's history they too had a hungry heart. And it led them to actions and lives that did nothing more than take them further into spiritual starvation. They sought riches, relationships, power, possessions, anything that would satisfy them. They were self-seekers. They were not happy with who they were always striving to be or become someone, something else. Wanting more and more and more.

The only problem with that kind of life is that filling a hungry heart with that kind of stuff only makes it hungrier. And the problem perpetuates.

It's easy to fall into that trap, satisfying your own desires. It's what made the capitalist system we live in today work. We have become consumers who simply live to satisfy our hunger. In the film Over the Hedge (a new animated movie now on DVD) the racoon tells the other animals that "while we eat to live, humans live to eat." And while we may not truly live to eat, we do live to satisfy. (why do you think the Sunday paper keeps getting heavier with each week closer to Christmas? Flyers telling us what we need to be satisfied!)

So what do we do with our hungry hearts? Many in Israel/Judah discovered that the hungry heart was simply a place for God, but not just any god, not a god that they could manage or a god who'd satisfy their selfish desires, but the One God who watches out for us every day. It's these who found peace.

"Content with who they are and where they are, unanxious, they'll live at peace." (Zephaniah 3:13, The Message)

It's a satiated heart, the place I've discovered. O sure I still get discouraged and disappointed. I still want things and have goals, but I'm much less stressed by disapointment. It's in this place, where I am right now, that God wants to bless me...If I'm satisfied with Him and with myself, with my marriage, with my family, with my career, in that order.

When the stomach is empty the body is hungry and uncomfortable. There's a great satisfaction with eating a good meal. But when the heart is hungry it's the whole life that is uncomfortable. To find what satisfies the heart brings peace.

Feast on the things of God today, grace, forgiveness, comfort, etc. Feast on God and you will find a satisfied heart...and...

...peace ><>
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