If you desire a life full of joy, a life full of meaning, and the adventure of a lifetime, may I suggest that you cultivate a hunger for God. If your passion is to know Jesus intimately and to make Him known globally then get ready for the most enjoyable and rewarding life imaginable. For you see you were created to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus and to manifest His glory to a world in desperate need of meaning and hope.
Sadly, many Christians start out with a hunger for God but never seem to be satisfied with the results. I think that Pastor John Piper shared great insight on why some Christians never seem to go beyond a superficial hunger for God when he said: “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”1
While I will admit that the world has many enticing things that vie for our attention they can’t compete with the sheer joy of knowing and making Jesus known to others. You see we were not created to just enjoy creature comforts but to bask in the wonders of the glory of Christ. I believe that every Christian should memorize (Psalm 16:11) because this one special verse will help you to realize why hungering for God should be something we make our greatest passion. This verse reads: “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The reasons I believe this verse will prove very helpful in cultivating a true hunger for God are threefold:
The first section of this verse says: “You will show me the path of life.” I don’t know about you but one of the main reasons I want to hunger after God is because I believe the more I seek Jesus, the more He will reveal His will for my life and the journey that will bring me maximum satisfaction while here on planet earth. While I know that this doesn’t mean a trial free life, it does mean a life where I will have my deepest desires met and have my talents uses to bless the Lord and others
The second section of (Psalm 16:11) says: “In Your presence is fullness of joy.” When we truly hunger after God we literally enter into His presence and, my friends, that’s a very special place, because when we are that close to God, He will flood our souls with fullness of joy. And the wonderful thing about this joy is that it is not dependent on circumstances, since whether things are going well or we are in the midst of a heavy trial we can experience the joy of the Lord.
And the third section of this verse says: “At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” I love what we read in (Hebrews 11:24-26): “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” Notice here while sin brings passing or temporary pleasures, when we are in the presence of the Lord, we will receive eternal pleasures.
Christian why short change yourself with the temporary and fleeting pleasures of sin when we can receive the deeper and more satisfying pleasures of walking in the will of the Lord. In the above verses from (Hebrews 11) we see that Moses was looking for the reward. I believe that this reward was both short term and long term. In the short term Moses received the joy of knowing He was doing the Lord’s will. And in the long term he looked forward to his promised salvation as well as accruing riches in heaven to his account.
Hungering after God means our prayer life is more concerned with the advancement of God’s kingdom over the enhancement of our own comforts. It also means, like Moses, we esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures our world can offer. And finally, hungering after God means we make Christ the greatest passion of our soul!
1 John Piper – If you don’t feel strong desires for the… (bibleportal.com)