Hungry Soul Syndrome

A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. (Psalm 27:7 NKJV)

There once was a young man who was very fortunate and had everything he wanted. He lived in a palatial house with plenty of servants waiting on his every need. While growing up, he had all the luxuries he could ask for and always stood head and shoulders above his peers and mates. What more could he ask for? He had a loving and kind family. Siblings and parents that loved God and loved him. They did everything in their capacity to give him a safe environment. In fact, his father did make him aware of the wealth and the fortune he was about to inherit from him when the time was right.

Like every home, this home too had rules, regulations, and restrictions. These boundaries were placed around this young man to protect him and his choices. However, this young man, under the influence of his friends and peers, decided to get rid of all the restrictions placed around him, move out of the house, and invest all the fortune his parents had saved up for him into something that would give him quick and easy returns. But as it turns out, he lost everything in a recession and became a pauper overnight. This well-cared-for young man who used to eat from the lavish table and feasts in his father’s house ended up in a pigsty and was feeding on pig fodder to keep himself alive.

How often have we caught ourselves making compromises in our lives, settling for something that’s less than the best, saying yes when we actually should have said no? We continue to make poor choices and bad decisions, leading to a bout of recurring problems and hurtful circumstances in our lives. We may think that these situations are not related or connected to each other, but the truth of the matter is that a broken or compromised soul is the root of every compromise we say yes to.

The hard part is to identify this handicap in our soul. So how do I know that my soul is hungry? How do I identify the gaping wounds deep within the crevices of my heart that are currently part of my subconscious self? Jesus said, “You will know the tree by the fruit it produces.” (Matthew 7:16) You have to become a good student and researcher of the fruit that comes out of your life, your relationships, your work, your ministry, your walk with God. And with the term fruit, I don’t mean you should measure in terms of how much success you’ve had, but in terms of how well you are able to truly manifest your identity, of who you are in Christ, what Jesus died on the cross to achieve in you. If you feel like you are not acting or living in accordance with the truth you know, it’s surely the result of a handicap in the soul.

Sometimes it takes a long time and multiple seasons for us to narrow the search down to one or two things that are causing this repetitive loss and leak from your soul. But identifying it is so crucial that you have already completed 90% of the process in just identifying the hunger of your soul. Once we identify the area where we are weak and broken, we have to run to the lover of our souls, the only one capable of truly satisfying and completing us. He is the true saviour, lover, and the satisfier of our souls. Sometimes you may need the help of a mentor, a counselor, or an accountability partner to make sure that you are not looking for satisfaction in any place except at His feet, in His presence, through His word.

An important skill we have to learn in this phase is the ability to discern between what is sweet and what is bitter. When you are constantly on the lookout for love, you can easily fall prey to everything that looks like love from a distance, and yet it will turn out to be a mighty trap when you are deep inside. It is wise to trust the discernment of others who might not have a handicap in that area of their lives. Even if tastes and looks sweet to you, you should trust the discernment of someone who is not hungry to know if it really is sweet like your senses tell you. Learn to take encouragement and advice even from people who are not as educated or as spiritual as you are. Keep your eyes and ears open to all directions. God can give you signs and teach you from different types of people.

The greatest deception of a hungry soul is calling bitterness sweet. Discern what truly nourishes you. Share on X

Once you recognize the problem areas, immediately browse for escape routes, so that you can exit that inviting environment. It may sometimes make you look like a coward, but it is necessary that we realize that saying no might not look as bold or courageous as you would have imagined. Saying no to temptation that will compromise your spiritual diet might look like you flee from your temptation! No matter how hungry or deprived you are. Jesus had to say no to the devil in spite of being on a 40-day-long season of fasting. As you read this blog post, the Lord is giving you a divine grace to resist the devil, to flee from temptation, to say no to every inviting bowl of soup that has the capacity to steal your birthright!

The story that I began this blog with doesn’t finish with the son being stuck with a pig food diet for the rest of his life. There was a point of time when he came to his senses. And he decided to return to his father’s house. A regular father would have responded with anger or rebuke or maybe even rejection, but this father who showed us God’s love and character ran out of his house to go welcome this son with an embrace and restored his dignity, his honor, and his Sonship. I believe that God is about to redeem you from whatever compromises you have had in the past. Your past failures will not define your identity nor can it quantify your worth. God is about to give you a ring and a robe, an authority and a covering, your blessing and your favor is being restored.

Your past failures don’t define you — your Father’s embrace does. Run back home; He’s waiting. Share on X

All that you need to do today is to choose to trust him and let him do the rest for you, in you, and eventually through you.