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Letting God Satisfy Our Hunger

By Hohna Cass

Have you ever been hungry? Of course you have. But have you noticed that whatever item you don't have in your kitchen is the very thing that sounds the most delectable? In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were hungry. They were hungry for life away from the barren desert -- the one option their "kitchen" did not hold. With the help of Moses, they had recently acquired their freedom from Egyptian authorities. However, only one and a half months into their freedom, they made it clear that they longed for the security of their old captivity.

In retrospect, it sounds like madness to have hungered after captivity in the midst of newly found freedom.

How tempting it would be to decide that the Israelites were fools to be discounted; and yet how familiar their story. In the midst of our blessings we also "hunger" for that which we do not have. Each phase of life offers unique elements of joy and peace to be relished. Even so, we can spend our entire lives ignoring the gifts of life that surround and await us, hungering for that which is not yet, or no longer ours. Indeed, children hunger to grow up. Teens hunger for independence. Singles hunger for marriage. Married couples hunger for children. Middle-aged couples hunger for children to grow up. "Empty-nesters" hunger for their children to return home. Seniors hunger for the days of their youth.

For the Israelites, to live under Egyptian rule had been difficult, but they had stability in their routine and certain comforts in their captivity. The hope of a new land must have appeared like a far off promise. In the meantime, the unknowns of desert life accorded few comforts other than freedom -- not a very tangible commodity. They knew what lay behind. They knew their destination. They stumbled in the day-to-day -- trying to exist between what had been and what would be.

Much like the Israelites, we long for the familiarity of the past and the possibilities of tomorrow. As singles, we question God's wisdom in bringing us to this point in our lives without a mate. We are guilty of looking over our shoulders at the relative safety of past relationships, even knowing that they were not pleasing to God. We hunger for the future, hoping that it will contain the perfect career, a church understanding of our needs, or the ideal mate. We stumble in the day-to-day -- trying to exist between what was and what will be.

As the Israelites were rescued from the Egyptians, we who are in Christ are rescued from captivity to sin. However, unlike God's children of the past, we have an example to follow. We can look back to see the Israelites' own folly and learn from it. They refused to trust God in the day-to-day and consequently they wandered in the desert for 40 years!

We have all heard it said: "Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it." Without faith in God's plan of deliverance for our lives, we will also wander in the desert. Some Christian singles wander by taking romantic matters into their own hands. They choose to date and marry a non-believer when no other option is in sight. Others wander in bitterness, choosing to be defensive and overly sensitive about life as a single. In building walls around their hearts, they waste the energy God has provided for worthwhile tasks. There are many ways in which singles can wander in the desert, and none of them allow God to work out His master plan of freedom in our lives.

Part of learning from history and saints of the past is to ask questions like "What?" "Why?" and "How?" applying the answers to our own situations. "What did God ask of the Israelites?" He asked them to follow Him out of captivity and into the Promised Land. "Why did He ask this of them?" He loved them, and in his omniscience he knew it was the best plan for their lives. "How did He expect them to accomplish this task?" He promised to lead them with His revealed presence, and to provide for their needs in the event that they wandered.

God's plan for singles is the same. He is still asking us to follow him out of captivity. He still loves us and knows that his path leads to Life. He still promises his presence. Having sealed us with His Holy Spirit, who will remain with us unto death, we will ultimately be delivered into the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.

As we have already noted, singles are not the only segment of the population with a tendency to seek contentment outside of God. At the same time, we are in a perfect position to change the cycle of our hunger. In our more youthful phase, we necessarily depended on parents to lead us. Now, we are independent, or have been for some time, and are capable of changing the course of our lives. And, unlike those phases of life beyond marriage, we are not molded and influenced by the habits and needs of spouses and children. Our responsibility is primarily to God and to ourselves; we are in a perfect position to redirect our patterns of longing.

The Israelites wandered for forty years. There is no guarantee that singles will be spared from the same wandering unless we choose now to take a different course. The Israelites had everything they needed. God provided a leader, a means of escape, and daily physical provisions. Clearly it was not His desire to lead them that far and then squash them with His God-sized thumb into desert dust. Their one responsibility was to bring their faith along for the journey, and they failed. Instead, they hungered vainly for things before and beyond.

Generations from now will our descendents look back on our unfolded lives and question: "Why couldn't they see what God was doing? Clearly He was guiding them toward good and not harm?" God is providing all that we need to change the cycle of our hunger. He has granted us the freedom of single life, and we must use it to choose faith daily. History teaches us that, having brought us this far, God will lead us further still.

© 2001 Hohna Cass

Hohna Cass is a freelance writer who works in Colorado Springs and shares a home there with three other single women.

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