On Water

I have been musing on metaphors to describe hunger. Not just the kind of hunger that comes and goes like natural hunger for food, but a constant hunger. Food hunger stirs within us but is then relatively easily satisfied. We don’t need food or hunger for that matter for a few more hours.

I know that I need and want more of God. I want to know the Holy Spirit intimately and powerfully in my life. However my spiritual hunger seems to be the same as my natural hunger, although much less frequent than three times a day.

I want to become more consistent in my hunger for the Holy Spirit but I find that my motivation goes in a cycle. It can take days or weeks after an encounter with God before I start to really yearn for Him. And when I do have such an encounter I find that despite my thoughts for renewed and consistent hunger, the satisfaction of that encounter results in me not continuing to seek Him.

Are we bound to be cyclical seekers? Fickle followers even?

Our desperate need for oxygen is perhaps a more helpful reminder of how much we need God all the time – for life. But I very rarely appreciate oxygen either.

But then I thought of Peter walking on the water. Peter was very highly and consistently motivated to stay on top of the water. He probably never thought twice while walking on dry land. Besides the odd puddle or trip hazard walking on the ground is something we can do so easily that we can take the process for granted.

A life of faith is a lot like the process of walking on water. Every step involves faith in some way. Although we start to take it for granted, we can start to live within our comfort zone as if we’re walking on dry land, times will come when we freak out and need Jesus to pull us back up onto the surface of the water.

For all of us who have responded to Jesus invitation to come out onto the water, we need to keep our eyes on Him. The life of faith is also pretty awful when we try to do it simply out of our own strength and discipline. We desperately need the moment-to-moment mentoring of the Holy Spirit – we need His power and His grace.

Let’s embrace the water-walking life, a life of faith, a life for others. I know if I appreciate the water-walk each day then I am more likely to stay hungry as I will know how much I need Him.