For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9)

I recently read a survey in Today’s Christian Woman newsletter that asked the question, “Have you ever been addicted to any of the following?”

The survey listed: food (21%), cigarettes (17%), shopping (11%), alcohol (8 %), sex (8%), binging/purging/starving yourself (6%), pornography (5%), drugs (5%), shoplifting (1%), other (5%), no (13%). You can see that addiction to food was number one in the survey.

Personally, I’ve struggled with over eating for as long as I can remember and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve used food to relieve stress, anxiety, discouragement and disappointment. However, God never meant for us to use food this way. It can not fill the empty places that belong to Him.

It can be so easy to use food as a source of comfort, however, that comfort can also turn into bondage. We can not eat enough food to fill the empty places of our hearts, even though we may try. God is our Creator and He created us with a desire to have fellowship with Him.

•He wants us to spend time with Him

•To talk with Him

•To ask for His advice

•To look to Him for comfort when we’re hurting, stressed out or anxious

Our Heavenly Father wants us to have a desire to feed our spirits as well as a desire to feed our stomachs. However, eating physical food will not fill spirits, only Jesus can do that.

Luke 1:53 says that God fills the hungry with good things. Therefore, we should go to Him when we’re tempted to use food to fill our broken and empty hearts.

And remember the words of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Blessings,

Joyce