It’s been a long, emotionally draining day at work and I come home craving chips and salsa.
Or
I’m in the middle of planning – blog content, future projects, career continued education or life in general, and I start to have a craving for some junk food.
Or
It’s a lazy afternoon, and I feel discontent and restless, so I head to the pantry door.
When I am feeling empty, depleted, and an overall void, I tend to reach for food. That is my go-to.
But my stomach is not from where the rumbling is coming!
The Rumbling is in my Soul
We were created with a void. With a place that only God can fill. It’s a type of yearning that cannot be sustained by anything else.
[ctt template=”9″ link=”GCU7g” via=”yes” ]We were created with a void. With a place that only God can fill. It’s a type of yearning that cannot be sustained by anything else. [/ctt]
Scripture paints beautiful descriptions of this desire.
Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
As you continue to read in Psalm 42, the psalmist was in distress. He was struggling, and life was not going the way he wanted, yet he understood that God was the only way to be sustained.
Psalm 84:1-2 (NIV)
How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Do you see the intensity and eagerness of the psalmist to connect with God?
I want that!
So why when I’m depleted is God not always the first place I turn?
Discernment: Defined
Discernment, according to Merriam-Webster, is the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.
Our experience of emptiness, discontentment, and an overall spiritual void can be very much obscure.
We tend to focus more on tangible, physical aspects of our life as opposed to spiritual and emotional ones.
We also are creatures of habit. Ways that we were soothed either by others or by our own devices, before having a personal relationship with Christ, tends to be the pattern we get stuck.
So while food has been my vice, for you it may be shopping and acquiring “stuff”. Maybe it’s gossiping about others to feel better about yourself. Or numbing the feelings with alcohol.
Discernment: Identifying the Rumbling
Yes, sometimes I am legitimately hungry. But it is essential that I am being more mindful of the messages my body is sending me and not getting it confused with greater emotional distress.
- Am I actually hungry? Is this a time I would usually eat? How long has it been since I last ate?
These are the first questions I need to ask myself. They can help to filter out a legitimate need for food instead of something more going on.
If I can recognize it is not a lack of food that is causing my emptiness, then I can ask further questions.
- When was the last time I connected with God?
Matthew 6:33 (HCSB)
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
- What situation could be causing this distress? And have I taken it to God?
Psalm 55:22a (NKJV)
Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
Discernment: Willing vs. Willful
Here’s the sucker punch truth I have to acknowledge.
Sometimes I can recognize my emptiness is not about food, in fact, it’s a void in my soul. And yet I still choose harmful and unhealthy ways.
Why?
Becuase in the moment, I feel food will satisfy me and fill me more.
But the truth is it never does. When the void and emptiness is in my soul, no decadent or calorie-dense food will make me feel better. It is, however, a sure fire way to make me feel much worse.
So again, why do I choose food?
Willfulness and pride.
When I feel empty, I feel out of control so I attempt to gain control in whatever ways I can. Instead what I need to do is give it all to God. To relinquish control to the One who knows it all. To not seek instant gratification but to seek fullness in my soul. And that can take time and effort.
[ctt template=”9″ link=”rGZ15″ via=”yes” ]When I feel empty, I feel out of control so I attempt to gain control in whatever ways I can. Instead what I need to do is give it all to God. To relinquish control to the One who knows it all. [/ctt]
Discernment: Temptation
For me, part of seeking God over food is removing temptation that can cause it to be all too easy for me to pick other things over Him.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (HCSB)
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.
The way that God provided a method of escape from my temptation was to lay it on my heart that I needed to give up added sugar. It was a craving and an addiction that I couldn’t balance. Moderation wasn’t in my vocabulary when it came to dessert.
More recently I have realized how much I have then been seeking other types of junk food – chips and crackers. Knowing that is a temptation, it is easier for me not to have it around. To not allow it to be a stumbling block in connecting with God when my soul is rumbling for Him.
While I’m not saying you need to cut out a specific type of food entirely, I am recommending that you take the source of your temptation to God and ask Him what you should do. Because remember, only He can fill the rumbling in your soul.
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God bless!
Melissa
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I’m reminded of how often I try to take things into my own hands and fill the voids with temporary pleasures even when I know the remedy lies in giving it ALL to God. It’s that space in the middle that is so difficult to stay within and trust that He ‘s still working and providing. Great encouragement, Melissa
Thank you, Crystal. It can be so difficult to stay within that middle space. I have to remind myself of past situations when I have given it all to Him and how much better my situations always end up being! Thank you again for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Crystal. God bless!
You addressed it so well !! I am sharing it in my Encouraging Entourage group which is now admin.-ed by our degree-d nutritionist……. Lovely post as always from precious Melissa!!
Thank you Tammy! You’re so kind for sharing. God bless!
Ouch… This one stepped on my toes, Melissa. Too often lately I’ve been craving chocolate instead of Jesus… and my spiritual life has paid the price. Thanks for pointing me back to Jesus today.
🙂 This one was very much written for myself. It’s been a struggle lately! Hopefully the stepping wasn’t too painful. God bless!
I have never heard this compared to a rumbling of my soul as opposed to running for the comfort of food. Well, I probably didn’t say that quite right, but this is brilliant. Thank you so much for speaking truth.
🙂 Thank you for your kind words, Amy. God bless!
Hey! I never heard the term discernment described in this way. Thanks for sharing.
There are so many instances in our life that we would benefit from using God’s discernment! Thank you for stopping by!
It is so easy to try to fill the God void with something else. I fall into that trap pretty regularly. Thank you for this gentle reminder that there is only one way to fill that desire!
Thank you, Lauren. I think we all do pretty regularly so I know I need the gentle reminders, too. Thank you for stopping by and God bless!
Wow, Melissa! This is one of those posts that I almost don’t like because it hits far too close to home. Have you been spending time in my head recently? 😉 Seriously, thank you for this important reminder of the trap that I’m certainly guilty of falling into. I, too, am often aware of what I’m doing and why, but I do it anyway out of willfulness and the desire to feel like I’m controlling something. Often subconsciously, of course, but those are the drives. That and believing Satan’s lie that those temporal feel-goods will fill the void or meet the need. This is such a struggle with temptation in more than one aspect of my life right now. Thank you so much for sharing your personal struggle and calling us all to seek Christ, not idols that will always fall short.
I’m glad you found the post beneficial Jerusha, albeit a tad uncomfortable. As a therapist, I have a way of doing that to people! Willfulness, control, and instance gratification are daily struggles and temptations for all of us. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. God bless!
I like your take on the rumbling in your soul, and not in your stomach. Well said Melissa! Thank you.
Thank you, Joy! God bless!
This is so true! My phone has been my “food” and being conscious of it has shown me the importance of holding off on quick satisfaction. It doesn’t sustain us. Great points about dicernment too.
There is such importance in holding off on the instant gratification items. Often we realize they aren’t worth it and it can be empowering to not allow other things to control us! Thank you for stopping by Anjelica!
Thanks for posting this. I think I’ve definitely experienced this before where I know deep down that what I’m feeling is actually a yearning for God, but I still try to satisfy it in some other way. I’m not talking specifically about food here, but a hunger for something else, which I might not know exactly what it is at the time. Sometimes it’s only when I have spent time in the word or listening to worship songs etc that I realise what it was I was seeking all along, even though I go through this same process multiple times over.
Unfortunately, I think all of us go through this same process multiple times over. But I think you hit the nail on the head, when we spend time in the word, praying, and praising, to we realize God is the only one to fill all our voids! Thank you for stopping by Robert and for sharing your thoughts. God bless!
So good, Melissa! I love the “check questions” you provided, especially “How long has it been since I connected with God?” I may have connected with Him beautifully that morning … but if my soul is rumbling, I definitely need to reconnect with Him. Just love this.
Thank you for your kind words, Dianne. I’m glad that you found the post beneficial. God bless!
You’ve definitely given us “food” for thought!
It’s so easy to reach for something that gives us instant gratification. I want to be a seeker of Him and then everything else will fall into place.
It is easy! We have to be aware of our intent, and desire, and apply the brakes to decide why we are wanting what we are wanting. But you are so right, when we seek God first everything else does fall into place. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. God bless!
This is an important message to share. Too often I also reach for food when I’m not physically hungry. Thanks for giving us prompts we can ask ourselves to see where the true need is.
Thank you, Lisa! I’m so glad you found the post beneficial. God bless!
Great post Melissa!
We all have comforters don’t we…food has never been my comfort…but old mystery movies & novels are!
But God should be & as you point out this needs to be a change in our behavior patterns both mentally & spiritually, step by step.
I’m glad God is patient with us!
You’re most welcome to drop by for a cuppa,
Jennifer
I’m glad God is patient with us, indeed! Even with the best of intentions, this process takes time. Thank you for stopping by Jennifer!
Great insight. Always a challenge, but always worth it when I choose the eternal over the temporary. I’ve been praying Psalm 63 recently – that I would be thirsty for God.
Thank you, Christine! Psalm 63 is wonderful to pray to get us into a heart of seeking God.