Week 7: Craving
Weekly Chapters: Numbers 11 - 30
Passage of the Week: Numbers 11:4
Noun:
1. Great or eager desire
2. Yearning
Verb:
1. To long for, want greatly
2. To require or need
3. To beg or plead
Thesaurus:
· Appetite
· Hankering
· Hunger
· Longing
· Passion
· Thirst
· Lust
Father God,
Thank You for Your grace as I continue my journey. My challenges with my behavior and my emotions are a continuing presence in my life. Help me navigate through this and give me the courage to confront my poor choices as I hurt myself and others. Provide me the strength to battle through and call myself out when I get out of hand like a toddler. Through You, God, I can identify and confront these feelings and behaviors to be more of the person You designed me to be.
Amen
Authentic vulnerability:
Craving. God gave us the ability to crave, desire, thirst for, long for. He gave us this as a way to crave him, time with him in his presence, celebrating him.
However, I find my craving to push toward the worldlier pursuits or pleasures. I crave food, power, and validation. At work, my ego craves more attention and power to the point where I do not respect leadership. My desire for power and justification overrides all desire to follow God and his teaching. My ego craves attention and says it’s all about me. At work, they are my ideas, my team, my time, mine, mine, mine. This is a craving for power.
I think of my craving for food. My goal is to feel full or satisfied, yet all I feel after eating that salty snack or sweet bite is empty. I am not satisfied and often I feel more empty than I did before. My hunger or thirst only momentarily quenched.
One day we open our eyes and realize what we have been craving and striving toward does not make us happy. It does not bring us peace. It is not what we want. We get what we crave and momentarily we are happy until we find the next thing to pursue never finding true peace that only God can provide.
What is your Authentic Truth?
Study:
In Numbers 14:27 (ESV) God asks how long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me”. In the NASB he says “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against me? God is asking Moses why are the Israelites never satisfied? They always want more, they crave more:
· More power
· More things
· More food
The Israelites were never satisfied with God and the provision of their needs. They continued to crave, not God, but anything but God. God gave them safety, food, all their needs met. Yet the Israelites complained.
God wants us to crave Him and His desire in our lives. Our ego instead craves more: more attention, more power, more validation. We crave what is in it for me, what about me, see me, hear me.
How is this craving of God achieved? We should know this from other behaviors. The more of something in your life the more craving is generated. Feelings of satisfaction are contagious. That is why when we buy a new purse we get a feeling of exhilaration but because we like that feeling we want more. This is no different than our cravings for God and His goodness.
Sometimes when we are so deep in the every day, we do not even realize that we are thirsting for God. Psalm 42:1-2 describes the deer physically panting for the flowing stream and David’s thirst for God mirroring the deer’s physical thirst. Our thirst is a biological need and our thirst for God is an emotional need. Realizing the thirst and stopping in our place to quench it is necessary for our growth, but first, we may need to slow down to realize we are thirsty.
Talk to God, communicate with Him when you are happy, sad, restless, or discontent. Recognize your thirst and drink in His grace and love.
Father God,
Please forgive my wicked ways. The craving of anything other than You. God, You fulfill all of my needs I just need to be open to Your blessings. My constant yearning for power and validation is hurtful to my being. You are all that I need and provide for all of my needs. Lord provide me with the spirit of content, the ability to let desires of the flesh go and be satisfied with the gifts You have blessed me with. Further God, I am your child and I act like a child. Please work with me to correct my craving for more. Praise You Father for Your love and acceptance.
Amen.
Homework:
· Find time with God daily, preferably in the morning to get your day started in a positive direction
· Talk to God at all times of the day, when you are happy, sad, excited, agitated.
· Is that anxiety you are feeling a need to commune with God, give in, and talk to him
