So WHAT do we do when we’re hungry?
Well, we eat! At least I do! I like to eat!! Eating food satisfies that craving for food.
WHAT benefit is food to our bodies? What does food do for our bodies?
Food not only satisfies that hunger, that craving, but it gives us strength, energy, helps us to maintain a healthy body.
So WHAT do we do to satisfy spiritual hunger?
We feast on those things that bring the spirit: read the scriptures, conference talks, prayer, showing love to and serving others, go to the temple……
There are many things we can do that bring the spirit into our lives.
When we are physically hungry, does one meal satisfy our body forever? No! That does seem ridiculous. How about for one month? Again, No!
So to satisfy our physical hunger, we have to regularly feed our bodies to maintain good health, other wise our bodies struggle. They become weak, sick even.
This is the same for spiritual feeding. We can’t have just one spiritual experience with reading the scriptures or prayer, or going to the temple and then think that will keep us spiritually healthy. We have to regularly feed our spirits, as with food, to maintain and increase our spiritual health.
Think about when the children of Israel were fed Manna for 40 years. Every day they had to collect the manna for the one day. It didn’t last for longer than one day (except for the day before sabbath, they collected for two days). They were dependent upon the Lord to feed them. They were constantly reminded that the Lord would take care of them.
In Deuteronomy 8:3 it was talking about how the Lord fed them Manna, it says:
“….that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live”
We are dependent on the Lord for our spiritual lives.
In a talk by Elder Holland in the November 1997 Ensign, He quoted Mother Teresa. She said “…as severe and wrenching as physical hunger was in our day….the absence of spiritual strength, the paucity of spiritual nutrition, was an even more terrible hunger in the modern world “.
In Amos 8:11-12 it says:
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
This was the prophet Amos prophesying of the future, I think when the gospel would not be on the earth. This is spiritual hunger. They couldn’t find what they needed to satisfy their spiritual hunger. They remained in turmoil. In our day, we don’t have to be in a spiritual famine. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth.
Elder Holland said “It seems that the essence of our mortal journey and the answers to the most significant questions in life are distilled down to these two very brief elements in the opening scenes of the Savior’s earthly ministry. One element is the question put to every one of us on this earth: “What seek ye? Or, What do you want?” The second is His response to our answer, whatever that answer is. Whoever we are and whatever we reply, His response is ALWAYS the same: “Come,” He says lovingly. “Come, follow me.”
Wherever you are going, first come and see what I do, see where and how I spend my time. Learn of me, walk with me, talk with me, believe. Listen to me pray. In turn you will find answers to your own prayers. God will bring rest to your souls. Come, follow me.”
Elder Holland goes on to say:
“With one voice and one accord, we bear witness that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to satisfy ultimate spiritual hunger and slake definitive spiritual thirst.”
Elder Holland also said:
“Please realize that the Church is not a monastery for perfect people…..at least one aspect of the Church is more like a hospital or an aid station, provided for those who are ill and want to get well, where one can get an infusion of spiritual nutrition and a supply of sustaining water in order to keep climbing.”
I love how he put that, that we can get an infusion of spiritual nutrition and a supply of sustaining water.
Bring a nurse, this sounds like a way to be healthy, kind of like taking antibiotics for an infection.
In 2 Nephi 9:51 it says:
“Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.”
He’s talking about feasting on spiritual things, being spiritually fat.
So ladies, it’s alright to be fat!
In Elder Holland’s talk he also talked about spiritual anorexia, (an absence of spiritual nutrition). The cure for that is to feast on spiritual things. Elder Holland goes on to say:
“Our fundamental requirement is to have faith in Him and follow Him-always…."
Basically, we need to trust in the Lord, and, the Sunday school answer:
KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!
In Matthew 5:6 it says:
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."
If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you seek for that which will satisfy that hunger: that infusion of spiritual nutrition. If you do that, you will be filled spiritually. You will feel peace and will be in a place to get answers to your own questions.
There are many reasons that we may not seek for that spiritual feast. Laziness, feeling overwhelmed or even feeling unworthy. No matter what the reason, please do it. The Lord loves you and wants you to be happy. Remember, he’s always beckoning to us “Come follow me”. No matter where we are, he won’t give up on us.
I know this to be true. I feel like I start over so many times. And when I do, the Lord is always there for me.
I know that when I’m not doing what I should be doing I feel empty, spiritually anorexic. But when I’m praying consistently, reading the scriptures, KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS, I feel the spirit with me, spiritually fat.
I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that our prophet, President Nelson, is truly called of God….
…In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.