Cultivating A Hunger For God
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Psalm 42:1–2
We are living in turbulent times. The headlines prove it every day. But when I look at Scripture, I see that the Church often grows the fastest and shines the brightest in seasons of pressure. When persecution rises, hunger rises. When shaking comes, God’s people get desperate for His presence. This gives me hope for these times. Church…this is our greatest hour.
That is what I believe God is stirring right now. A holy hunger. A fresh appetite for His presence that cannot be satisfied with hype or performance.
At Abiding Church, our heartbeat is simple but costly: Rooted in Presence. Raising Disciples. Releasing Kingdom. This is not marketing language. It is a map for the hungry.
Everyone is hungry—but not everyone eats at the right table
Psalm 42 was not written by David but by the sons of Korah. These men knew rebellion in their family line, yet God redeemed their legacy and gave them a song. They write about a soul panting for God the way a deer pants for water. That kind of desperation only comes when you know what it’s like to be empty.
From Genesis to Revelation, you see this same thread. Appetite reveals priorities.
Eve ate from the wrong tree.
Esau sold his inheritance for a bowl of stew.
Daniel refused the king’s delicacies and fasted until breakthrough came.
Elijah ate food brought by ravens.
A widow gave her last oil and flour and saw multiplication.
Jesus was tempted to break His fast with bread, but answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”
Even after His resurrection, Jesus revealed Himself at the table. On the road to Emmaus, the disciples didn’t know who He was until He broke bread. Suddenly their eyes were opened.
If you think these moments are about food, you’ve missed the point. They are about appetite. About hunger. About what people crave, and where they go to be filled.
Hunger is natural, but appetite is cultivated
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has set eternity in our hearts. Every one of us was created with a hunger for Him. But appetite is trained. What you feed on the most is what you will crave.
That’s why so many live on spiritual junk food. Entertainment. Empty inspiration. Emotional hype. It feels good for a moment, but it never lasts. True disciples learn to retrain their appetite. They hunger for the Word, for worship, for His presence. Hebrews 5 says it plainly: you cannot live on milk forever. At some point, you need meat.
The prodigal and the older brother: two hungers
Think of the prodigal son. He was so empty that he was ready to eat from the pig’s trough. That’s where his hunger shifted. However, he eventually came back himself and remembered the Father’s table. He thought he’d return as a servant, but the Father restored him with a robe, a ring, and a banquet.
But what about the older brother? He lived in the house but carried a works mentality. Surrounded by abundance, yet jealous when grace was poured out. He was angry that his brother got a banquet but his Father reminded him that he had access to the table all along, but was blind to it.
Both sons show us that the issue is not proximity to the house. It is the condition of your appetite.
Have you lost your hunger?
Some of us have been nibbling at the world’s table so long that we have become numb to God’s. Others have spiritual eating disorders. Starving. Binging. Surviving on hype instead of real nourishment.
Maybe religion left a bad taste in your mouth. Maybe compromise destroyed your appetite. Maybe you’ve been full of junk food and can’t even recognize the hunger you feel deep inside.
But the Spirit is restoring hunger. He is calling you back to the table. He is knocking. Revelation 3:20 says, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Jesus and the food you don’t know about
When the disciples urged Jesus to eat, He told them, “I have food you don’t know about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work” (John 4:32–34).
That’s the hunger God is inviting us into. A hunger that is not about survival but about assignment. A hunger that is satisfied in obedience and fueled by presence.
What are you hungry for?
Power
Praise
Possessions
Pleasure
Or the Presence of God?
You hunger for what you love. And what you consume will eventually consume you.
That’s why Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Stay hungry
Don’t settle. Don’t nibble at the world’s table. Don’t let religion or distraction dull your appetite.
Stay hungry. Pursue His presence. Sit at His table. And watch what God will do through a people who refuse to be satisfied with anything less than Him.