THE BATTLE FOR OUR APPETITES

Life is war. The Apostle Paul calls it “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). Every day of our lives here on this earth is a battle for our appetites and their satisfaction. What we desire for is what will lead to what we believe will satisfy us. The great enemy in this war is what Jesus calls “the desires or appetite for other things” (Mark 4:19). And the only weapon that will triumph is a deep hunger and thirst for God. There are those whose lack of a hunger for God is not because God is unpleasant. Perhaps at one time their palette was awakened when they “tasted and saw that the Lord was good” (Psalm 34:8). But, because they have kept themselves stuffed with “other things” they’ve lost their appetite for God. Their soul has been stuffed with small insignificant things, and there is no room any more for the great and worthy thing; they are full of what the world has offered.

This is what took place with Israel in Psalm 106. We read: “They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.” (Psalm 106:13-15)
The Psalmist takes us back to the time of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and God’s leading them in the wilderness of Canaan. In verses 13-14, the Psalmist says that the Israelites forgot God’s works and did not want to wait for His counsel or word. In short, they did’nt want to wait for Him! Instead, they craved meat for their stomachs. They were tired of eating the bread (manna) from heaven that God provided for them. Manna represented more than the provision for Israel’s physical hunger. Moses said that God humbled them “causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). In short, manna was meant to teach Israel to live on God and to be satisifed with Him.

But Israel lost their appetite for God and His provision. So He gave them their request (verse 15). He showered the camp with quails. But along with the food God sent “leanness into their soul”. The people wasted away even while feasting upon “quail under glass.”

This illustrates how God's greatest adversaries are His gifts. The greatest enemy of hunger for God is endless nibbling at the table of the world. For all the ill that Satan can do, listen to how Jesus sadly describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love:

"A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"
(Luke 14:16-24)

Do you see what keeps us from His banquet table? All are things that in themselves are good. It is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said another time that some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, "as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life" (Luke 8:14). In another place he said, "The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). "The pleasures of this life" and "the desires for other things", these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are family dinners and coffee at Starbucks and gardening and reading a good book and decorating your house and playing with your kids and traveling across the U.S. and family get-togethers and date nights and investing in real estate and CD listening and DVD -watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God. These can be the very things that kill the soul.

Oh Lord, fountain of life, living water, bread from heaven. You are our true desire and true delight to our hungry and thirsty souls. But Lord, we are weak. We desire the wrong things and are satisfied with the wrong things. No wonder we are so empty inside. Forgive us for our opposition to you by looking to other things to satisfy our restless longings and forgive us from perverting what satisfies us by looking to your gifts rather than you for our hearts delight. We agree with the Psalmist, “Who have we in heaven but You and there is nothing on earth that we want besides You. Though our flesh and heart may fail, You alone are the strength of our heart and our portion forever.” Oh Jesus, create in us a desire to desire You and a delight to delight in You. In Jesus satisfying and delightful Name, AMEN.