THE HUNGRY MAN
Men have a notorious reputation for always being hungry. In fact, many years ago there was a series of TV commercials entitled Hungry-Man Commercials, their tagline was “Eat like a Man”! Truth be told, the food they advertised was a heart attack waiting to happen! But just a simple glance around you at work, or at church and you can tell by the size of men’s bodies around you, they took the commercial literally!
In all seriousness, what are you really hungry for? What is it that you genuinely crave? Are you hungry for God? Is there within you a deep, longing and hunger to know the Lord?
There is nothing more vital to your life and to your family than your hunger for God. We must be men like David who cried out in Psalm 63, “Oh God you are my God, I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. You satisfy me more than the richest of foods!“
I know men who simply cannot live without their Chipotle burrito! They salivate for it, they crave it! But do you crave God? Does your hunger for God get you out of bed in the morning to seek the Lord? Does your heart yearn and cry out for the living God? This is what truly sets a man apart from other men. Do you recall God’s message to us, in Jeremiah? “Let not the mighty man boast or gloat in his strength! Let not the wise man boast or gloat in his wisdom. Let not the rich man boast or gloat in his riches. Let him who boasts, boast in this alone, that they truly know and understand Me!“
Do you recall God’s message to us in Hosea? “Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him! I want you to know God; that’s more important than burnt offerings!”
I cannot overemphasize this or overstate its importance to you as a man, as a father, and a husband. You must be insatiably hungry for God!
This has been and remains the great burning desire of my heart, the longing of my soul, and the pursuit of my life. I want God! I want to know God more! I want him above all other things in my life. This has been the ultimate source of everything else in my life, my fathering and my marriage. The secrets of the Lord are for those who fear him! The eyes of the Lord move back and forth over the whole earth looking for a heart that is completely His, that is earnestly longing for and searching after God! It is that man God will strongly support!
You and I must be men who spend time alone with God. Men, who in solitude, seek after God, study God, cry out to and for God. This will be the primary source of your great strength as a man, of your ability to father strong and wise, with discernment and good judgment, and the source of your devoted love as a husband for your wife. God will pour out his wisdom, his grace, his insights, and his power on the man who is hungry for him, who earnestly, and devotedly seeks after God.
Years ago, I had a man in my church. He was eager and outwardly zealous to serve God. He was constantly asking me about wanting to do more, wanting to serve God and be in leadership. He seemed genuine and very sincere. After some years, seeing his faithfulness in other areas, I entrusted him with a ministry reaching out to a particular group of people. We made a significant investment in that ministry and there were some good things happening. One day I got a call from this man, telling me we urgently needed to meet. We met for coffee and after quite a bit of time, simply sitting at the table in silence, he confided in me a shocking reality. Without going into the details, I knew he would no longer be able to lead this particular ministry. Over the course of the next several months, I met with him regularly, trying to help him recover and I discovered this man literally had no idea how to walk with God. I was stunned as I realized all that appeared outwardly in his life, was simply a facade. He had no real prayer life to speak of and by his own admission did not know how to walk with God. He was not a man hungry for God, but a man hungry for a position of service and everything else in his life was suffering as a result.
Men, hear me now. You can fake out your friends, you can even fake out some of the people closest to you, but you can’t fake out God. You will eventually crash and burn. Only God can satisfy the deepest longings of your soul. You must be a man with a constant and insatiable hunger for God! Set your heart to be a hungry-man, hungry to know God!
Now do something about it every day for the rest of your life!
To help you in this pursuit, please listen to these podcast messages:
https://strongdisciple.com/
This is my own personal story of God imprinting this on me, it is called What I Need Most.
https://strongdisciple.com/
https://strongdisciple.com/
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling