What do we crave?
God has created some amazing things for us to enjoy!
God has also created us with desires and cravings.
God wants to satisfy those desires with good things.
Psalm 103:2-5
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Where things start to go wrong is when we misinterpret our cravings.
All of us were born into sin. We were born with this sinful human nature and flesh that entices us to satisfy our cravings with things that harm and destroy us. Our cravings are not bad, but what we choose to satisfy them with can be.
Romans 1:24-25
24 God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts… 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.
When we turn to created things rather than the Creator, our cravings are misunderstood. We exchange truth for lies and worship and serve lesser things; created things instead of the Creator.
Lesser things.
If we were created to need 8 oz of water every day, but every day turn only to a 6 oz bottle of water to get filled up, we will never be satisfied. Oh, we will temporarily sense relief and happiness. However, it will provide just enough to keep us coming back to it even though it can never truly provide what it promises. We will end every day thirsty, needy, and longing for more.
It is a lie. In the end, we will be left dry and parched and slowly die. It promises, but only in part. It fulfills, but only a little. It will never be enough although it gives a false sense of hope that it will be. The temporary satisfaction is just enough to keep us coming back.
It’s like drinking salt water to quench our thirst.
It seems to quench it, but is actually only worsening the craving and slowly killing us.
We were created for something more.
We were designed with these cravings, but every earthly thing falls short of truly satisfying them.
Those are the types of things that the devil tempts us with in order to satisfy our cravings.
James 1:13-17
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Tempted, enticed, dragged away from God into sin because we choose to settle for lesser things to satisfy our cravings. Even in our weakness and temptation, God still remains faithful. He is still with us and for us!
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
God never tempts us and He will make sure that we are never tempted beyond what we can bear. There is always a way out! Even in our temptation, God is still calling out to us and drawing us to Him; THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE!
Romans 1:25
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…
It’s not even necessarily that the earthly things which we crave are bad.
It’s when they become equal to or greater than our desire for God that they become evil.
It’s when they become replacements for what God provides us that they become evil.
Jesus was tempted in every way that you and I are tempted and yet never sinned.
In Matthew 4, we read about when Jesus was taken out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Yeah, I know, let that one stir up your theological inquisitiveness for a moment.
Not tempted by the Holy Spirit; tempted by the devil.
Yet still lead by the Holy Spirit out to be tempted.
The devil tempted Jesus, but Jesus resisted and overcame and then began His earthly ministry. He chose to live in full surrender to His Heavenly Father trusting that His plans and purposes and provisions were best.
1 John 2:16-17
16 For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
What do we turn to when cravings stir up within us?
Remember God.
Remember all of His benefits!
God forgives ALL your sins.
God heals ALL your diseases.
God redeems your life from the pit.
God crowns you with love and compassion.
God satisfies your desires with good things.
What do we crave?
What do we hunger and thirst for?
What do we feed our souls?
What do they really need?
What truly satisfies us?
What are these good things that God provides which satisfies?
Well, this is where truth comes into play.
This is where freedom begins!
This is where we repent – returning that exchange that we made!
We turn away from created things and begin to pursue the Creator!
The only way to receive good things that satisfy our cravings is to turn to the One whom created us with these cravings. He alone knows what our cravings truly are and what they were purposed for. He alone can provide the good things to bring satisfaction to our cravings in a way that releases life and blessing.
Joel 2 provides these promises to us if we just choose to turn to the Lord with our cravings:
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
19 The Lord replied to them:
“I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;”
Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival of the tabernacles, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
When we turn to God, He gives us His Holy Spirit who is the source of living water. Not only are we satisfied, but this living water overflows our lives and pours out into the lives of those around us! Why would we ever turn anywhere else to satisfy our cravings?
What do we crave?
Can we echo and agree with these cravings?
Psalm 84:1-4;10-11
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young –
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Isaiah 26:8-9
8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
in the morning my spirit longs for you.
When your judgments come upon the earth,
the people of the world learn righteousness.
Psalms 143:6
I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.
Psalm 42:1-2
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 63:1-5
1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Give God a try!
Psalm 34:4-8
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
What do we crave?
What do our souls long for?
Do we hunger and thirst for the Spirit of the Living God?
Do our whole beings long for Him?
They do!
We just may not recognize it.
We have spent our entire lives chasing after lesser things.
We have turned to created things instead of the Creator in our cravings.
Let’s try something different.
When those desires rise within us, let’s lift up our hands to God and to cry out to Him.
Let’s position ourselves to receive from God.
He PROMISED, PROMISED to satisfy our desires with good things.
Let’s not forget that!