HUNGER AND ZEAL

As people seeking the Lord, we need to know what's needed so that we may grow in our walk with God. Here, we are given two keys which may prove beneficial to our growth so that we may hit the mark that God has set for our lives (Phil. 3:14).

Hunger

Hunger is simply defined as a desire for food. This is a natural response of our body to satisfy itself and keep itself running. It can be easily triggered by our senses. Our hunger drives us to look for food. Hungry people tend to become irritable and in extreme cases can even be driven mad or die.

An experiment was conducted in Minnesota in 1950 to determine the physical and mental effects starvation has on the body. It was done for 24 weeks, slowly starving the volunteers while checking their mental and physical condition throughout the experiment.

The volunteers were then found to have become irritable, violent, depressed, socially withdrawn, decreased in comprehension and concentration, lethargic, and apathetic. Some even harmed themselves and those who used to have very good demeanor became violent.
(madinamerica.com)

What we hunger for can become a strong driving force in our lives. Hunger is not only applicable to food. We can also hunger for many things in life like money, career, success, fame, among others. Similar with our physical hunger, our appetites can also dictate how we go about with our lives.

What we do in this life is an evidence of what we are hungry for. People who have vices often know that it is bad for them but they cannot stop because of their intense cravings. Those driven by money will do anything just to earn as much as they can, even if it means taking multiple jobs in spite of difficulty. Hunger can make us do things we do not want to do.

Instead of having hunger for material things, it is better to have a hunger for God. 

Matthew 5:6 says that those who hunger for God are blessed. As an example, those who are new Christians, who have just repented and received God in their lives, can show such a hunger.

They can be very passionate in praying or reading the Bible. They are satisfied by nothing less than the Word and the presence of God daily. Some have a strong desire to preach or share the gospel and lead as many as they can to know Jesus because of how their own lives were transformed.

The lack of hunger is also a symptom that there is something wrong with us. Some sicknesses are diagnosed solely by the lack of hunger in a patient. The same is true with a lack of spiritual hunger.

When we do not have a hunger for the Lord, it is a sign that something is wrong with us spiritually. 

Dr. Robert Tucker in their ministry for over 40 years have said "One of the difficult aspects of pastoring is to watch people who have once had a vehement desire for God grow spiritually lethargic and indifferent. When this happens, they become difficult to teach and lead." (Tucker 21)

It is impossible to mature in God without a hunger for Him. Those who lose their hunger for God lose interest in the things of God. These people become slow in their growth and eventually begin to backslide in their relationship with God. They slowly back away from God and fall into sin until their relationship with God is totally severed. God then just becomes something they experienced before but He is no longer a part of their daily lives.

The Church of Ephesus was rebuked by God for not having their hunger anymore in Revelations 2:1-7. They were praised by God for many good works but somewhere along the way, they lost their love for the Lord.

We lose our hunger for God when we say "no" to something that God wants to deal with in our lives. But when we return to that point and repent (change our minds), we will have a renewed hunger for God and our hearts are made soft once more.

Deuteronomy 8:3 shows that the Lord gives us a hunger for Himself to which He will also provide satisfaction. He sometimes takes away our self-sufficiency so we may know that He alone can truly satisfy. He chooses those who will hunger for Him and we need to ask God to make us hungry for Him again. Our hunger determines how far we will go with the Lord.

Zeal

Zeal is defined as an eagerness in pursuit of something. It can be simply described as being hot in one’s desire for God. It is a strong desire to do the will of God and not settle for anything else.

The zeal of God is also an anointing that causes us to perform the tasks of God. 

John 2:13-17 shows us an example of the anointing of the zeal of God over Jesus when He cleansed the temple. He was consumed by a passion to do the will of the Father in spite of the opposition.

When we are overcome by the zeal of God, His desire will burn in our hearts until the matter is accomplished (Isaiah 37:31-32, 2 Kings 19:31). We can also wear it like a spiritual garment which would allow us to overcome timidity or any other obstacle to do what God wants us to do (Isaiah 59:16-17).

God wants that His redeemed people, those who have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and repented of their sins, to also have the same zeal in performing the acts of God (Titus 2:11-14). We clearly need to ask the Lord for His zeal so that we ourselves can perform His mighty acts.

The Church of Laodicea in Revelations 3:14-19 also suffered rebuke from the Lord for being lukewarm. They lost their zeal for the Lord. In their case, the cause was being rich and well-off. They thought they needed nothing and became lax in their love for the Lord. God found them blind to their own condition and unacceptable to the point that God wanted to vomit them out of His mouth!

We need fervency, that fiery desire for God, and one way to apply this is in prayer (James 5:16). We need to ask God for this zeal. We cannot just stir ourselves to doing it. It needs to come from God.

We also need zeal in loving people. We are not to merely be friendly. Instead, we should be willing to go out of our way to love other people and do the work of God (Romans 12:10-11, 1 Peter 4:7-8).

We only have one life to live to hit the mark of God's call upon our lives and advance His kingdom. 

Both hunger and zeal for God will drive us to receive from the Lord to be able to do His perfect will.


Sources:
Kaplan, Bonnie and Julia Rucklidge. "Starvation: What Does it Do to the Brain". madinamerica,www.madinamerica.com/2013/05/starvation-what-does-it-do-to-the-brain/.Accessed 7 May 2017.
Changed from Glory to Glory - Robert Tucker, Zion Christian Publishers 1994 ebook