Are you hungry? What are you hungry for? These are basic questions we inherently ask ourselves every day without much thought. But what if we asked those same questions of our souls?

Hunger is a natural instinct in all of us; it alerts us to a very basic need. It’s been said we all have a God-size hole in our hearts. This void creates a feeling of emptiness and craving which demands to be satisfied. However, if we don’t let God fill this void, our natural tendency is to try and fill it quickly and easily in an effort to relieve the ache of emptiness.

We live in a culture of abundant choices with rich flavors to satisfy the most complex taste buds. We also have an abundance of choices to try and satisfy the hungry soul. When we choose counterfeit fulfillment—food, gambling, gossip, shopping, people, etc— satisfaction is only temporary at best, and often creates a host of other issues such as guilt, shame, and spiritual ineffectiveness.

Yet, in the end, nothing will satisfy this emotional craving accept God himself. So when we find ourselves seeking instant gratification elsewhere, we are left soul starved and frustrated once again.

What is this? It is Soul Hunger.

One definition for the word hunger is a strong or compelling desire or craving (dictionary.com).

Hmmmm. Craving…

Chew on that word a moment. What kind of emotions does it evoke in your mind? Your body? Your heart? Your soul?

For most of us, it’s quite a loaded word. More often than not, we have no clue what we truly desire. All we know is that we have an ache inside that doesn’t go away. So in an effort to quell the hunger, we seek people, substances, or things to satisfy. Sound familiar?

Culturally, we are conditioned for instant gratification, are we not? I mean seriously people, we have anything and everything at our fingertips—food, alcohol, social media—you name it, we’ve got it.

Whether we crave significance, love, comfort, or numbness, we all crave something. We often become slaves to our cravings not understanding why they have such a hold on us. What can be confusing is that God made us to crave. In fact, we are hardwired to crave Him—his presence, his comfort, his wisdom.

Are you soul starved? Can you recognize that feeling? Our starting point needs to be identifying what we crave? When we crave it? And why we crave it? Are you with me? I know this is a hard topic, but it will be well worth our effort to find some freedom in this area.

As a single mom, you need to be on alert, especially since you probably spend much of your energy and time keeping your family afloat. You may be starving and not know it. Let me encourage you to seek God throughout the day to “feed” your soul, to satisfy your cravings so you can be free! Use our verse for this week as a reminder.

Reflect and Respond:

This week lets start by identifying our patterns of soul hunger. What do you tend to reach for when you are trying to fill that void? Are there certain times of day that are harder for you? Certain situations that cause your hunger to spike? Once you have identified a clear pattern, start praying for God to intervene and satisfy that craving first. Habits are hard to break, but this one is worth the effort. May you find peace and freedom in His overflowing and never-ending love.

Remember, you are not alone. Be blessed this week as you seek to let God satisfy your soul hunger.