Hunger Pains

Prayer based on July 28 entry...

Lord, as a people, we cry out to you. Some of us out of the depths of despair, some out of physical pain, some out of confusion, some of us in fear, some of us in loneliness, some of us in sorrow over our sins and the fruits they have produced, some of us in anger and frustration. Some of us cry out in the midst of joy and gladness.

We’re often told we can satisfy the hunger in us through what we do, how we live, what we wear, how good we are at something, the friends we have, the recognition we receive, the perceived value of our work or play, how we look, how together we can appear. So, we purchase them, open and swallow. Yet, they don’t satisfy our hunger. They’re all a bit like Twinkies tasting good up front but leaving us feeling worse later on. They don’t satisfy our true hunger for you.

We are all longing for something more, something different, something to change, something to mend, or something new. Really, this just confirms that we are meant for something greater. We are meant for something beyond the here and now of this earth. We are meant for you, your presence now and in all of eternity.

“You are our Lord, apart from you we have no good thing.” You alone fill us with pleasures and food that last for all time. You have given us our cup and that drink is you. May we set you always before us. May we be unified together in our cries to know you more. Increasingly, satisfy us with your love that the world’s foods may seem dim in our eyes.

When we eat to satisfy the cries of our stomachs, may it remind us of the cries within us to be filled by you. When we feel good from our accomplishments, may it remind us of our deeper cry to be satisfied through finding purpose in you. When things are going well, may they never fully satisfy. Instead, may we look to you for your Spirit to fill our deeper spiritual longings. When things are in shambles, may we not satisfy that breakup in our lives with the stuff of this world that only fades away.

Satisfy the cries of ____ with the food of your presence, love, healing.

All things look to you to give them their food at the proper time. This too is our cry.