Sick for satisfaction
Many of us struggle to feel satisfied when we eat or know what it feels like to be satisfied. We are not in tune with the needs of our bodies and how God created them to be. The population has become more overweight and sick with disease than ever before in the history of the world.
Our current food landscape has made it increasingly more difficult to truly know what it means to be nourished. It can be hard figuring out what is best for our bodies. We might never have been educated about how to make good food choices and left our health in the hands of others.
Here are some areas of your life to exam if you have been struggling with your health.
Reason #1: Poor planning
Our poor planning can put us in situations that cause us to make decisions we look back on with regret.
Esau put himself in this type of situation:
“Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!’” (Gen. 25:29–30)
Esau did not account for the fact that hunger was coming. Look at him: he had been out working hard all day (like many of us), and when he got home from work he was starving and wanted whatever was most readily available, which is rarely our healthiest option. Esau fell victim to poor food planning.
Later in the passage, we see that Esau was willing to give away his birthright to satisfy his hunger. Now, you are not giving away your birthright by not planning, but you might be compromising your health. When we are hungry we tend to make rash and unhealthy decisions.
When you have been working all day and dinnertime comes, do you know what you are going to eat? Doing things like having a meal plan ahead of time and going to the store so the food is already there can make a big difference.
Ask yourself and pray about whether this is an area where God is asking you to be more disciplined in, and if your body could be better nourished by some planning.
Reason #2: Comfort creatures
“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exod. 16:3)
We can become used to eating a diet that provides comfort instead of health. We become so used to the foods that we eat we forget that we might not be eating the best for our health or how God views our health.
In the passage from Exodus, above, the Israelites cry out to God to have their meat pots filled again like before . . . when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They weren’t satisfied with the diet that God had provided to them since they’d been wandering. They wanted more and wanted what they knew to be a comfort to their bellies. The Israelites thought that was the Lord had provided to them wasn’t enough to nourish their bodies.
Where do we challenge God in this same manner? Do we turn our noses up at vegetables? Do we think we are entitled to dessert anytime we want? Pray about where you might be craving the comfort of the belly over the comfort of what God has provided.
Reason #3: We buy into marketing
There are occasions where we become misled. We are talked into believing “promises” about health products. Product that will give us the life and wellness we seek through some shortcut, be it a magic pill or a special diet drink to melt away pounds.
Long before the modern marketing that we know today came around, Eve also was persuaded by the promise of a magic pill. Satan was crafty in his sale of the fruit:
“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:4–6).
Eve was tempted by the promises of what that fruit could do for her. Later, Satan tried to tempt Jesus with food, too, but obviously failed.
Where do we fall victim to these promises today? Are we looking for our own version of the fruit that will change our lives? Or do we trust that God is the ultimate provider of health and seek after his wisdom?
Reason #4: Latest diet trends
There is nothing new under the sun—except the latest diet, right? Flip through nearly any magazine or watch TV and you are certain to find the new and latest diet trend. Eat this, do this, take this, move like this—now don’t eat this, don’t take this, and on and on and on.
King Nebuchadnezzar had his own version of the latest diet trend. He thought that he had constructed the best diet plan to raise up strong and intelligent men to be in his service. It was the diet that he himself was eating—how could that be bad? He required Daniel to participate in this diet but Daniel declined.
Daniel knew that he was to eat the foods that God provided. God blessed Daniel’s obedience through his decision. Daniel had risked his life to be obedient to what God had called him to. He did not fall victim to the latest diet trend.
Where do you look to the latest trend to be your savior? Where do you need to seek after God’s wisdom to help you determine the best diet for your body?
Eating is something we have to do on a daily basis. We are constantly plagued with decisions about what to eat and how to eat. It is difficult waters to navigate and sometimes we feel exhausted at the effort required of us. God wants our eating to be in worship to him. He wants us to eat in obedience to what he has called us to be:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1, emphasis added).
Spend time praying about how your eating might change through seeking wisdom from God, better planning, and looking to nourish our bodies through nutritious foods. We are God’s temple. Let’s build healthy bodies that honor him.
