A few weeks ago I spoke on Isaiah 55 about satisfaction and how we (myself included) are regularly tempted to look for satisfaction in things that ultimately don’t satisfy us. In my research, I found a poem and a prayer about inviting God to fill our deepest hunger.
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Feed Your Starving Soul
by Linda Siebenga
originally appeared in Christian Courier 2912 (9 May 2011)
Not just the nibble
we remember eating yesterday,
or that meal last Sunday
the pastor spoon fed us
as he waited for us
to want meat and potatoes.
We feed our bodies
more fuel than they can burn
but starve our souls
with skimpy feedings:
a little here
a little there
when a feast of wisdom and comfort
is in our grasp.
“Come and eat,” the prophet urges.
“Buy wine without money that your soul may live.”
Taste the honey of Psalm 139,
a platter of Isaiah 55,
the comfort food of Philippians 4,
the meat of Romans 8.
Chew the pithy parables.
Taste samples of the stories of those
who have wrestled with God.
Tomorrow dish it up again;
digest it so you may thrive,
grow strong,
mature and produce fruit.
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Prayer of Confession
by N. Graham Standish
originally appeared in Let Us Pray: Reformed Prayers
for Christian Worship (Geneva Press, 2002)
There is a deep hunger within us, O Christ, for the food only you can give us: the bread of life found in you. We need you so desperately in our lives, and only you can satisfy our deep hunger. Yet we are such an impatient people. We want to be fed by you, but we don’t always want to sit at your table. We want fast spiritual food, not the nourishing food that comes through patient prayer, quiet reflection, service, thanksgiving, understanding, and virtue. We want your saving grace to work in a hurry so we can experience your blessings and peace now. We are not always willing to undergo the slow transformation that allows you to enter our very souls. Help us to [respond to your invitation and] come to you with repentant hearts so that in your grace we [will be filled and satisfied, going forth as] your disciples, your servants, your apostles. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
4th Point 