Calming a Sweet Tooth

Last night I had a craving for cheesecake. I mean this desire was so strong I had to brush my teeth 3 times to calm the craving. The reason is that I'm quiting sweets and going into marathon training mode. My whole diet is changing and I have a tendency to want to reach for the brownies 1 or 2 or 10 times so it's taking all the will power I have to quell those overwhelming cravings.

But the craving had me thinking this morning about my former desires. I've revealed a lot to you about my past and how I came out of addiction so you know that I used to crave some really harmful stuff that cheesecake has nothing on. I desired drugs, anger, violence, isolation, you name it.
Yet much like cheesecake at 9 o'clock at night those things did absolutely nothing beneficial for my body; they only furthered the pain and anguish I faced on a daily basis.

 In my morning studies I was reading Psalm 42:1, "As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." The Psalmist has a craving and it's not a brownie! He desires God and wants desperately for that sweet tooth to be relieved with the sweet joy of His presence.

"Why is that?" I asked as I pondered this passage. The answer to why the Psalmist has a craving, a yearning for the living God is found in vv 5&11 (which read the same), "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." There's a reason so many find God in our prison/jail systems and that is there is a brokeness and a hurting which creates a longing for something more. The Psalmist here was surrounded by enemies, alone, hurting and his prayer touches to the core of everyone struggling to make it through with a broken soul.

He says, "Put your hope in God." When times are tough, when all is bleak and you feel you cannot go on any longer, put your hope in God. Crave God like that sweet tooth screaming at you - I know you all can relate! Crave God like it is your only hope as an inmate does when he/she has been stripped of everything. Crave God like a thirsty deer. Crave God and you will have your life satisfied not with riches, good health or prosperity but rather satisfied with His presence. The message of the Psalmist is that when times get tough, run to God, put your hope in the Savior and rest assured that he will satisfily all your cravings today.