By PASTOR BRANDON YOUNG

Psalm 34:8 tells us to taste and see that God is good. The word “craving” is often associated with taste because we desire the foods that taste good. Our taste buds send a message to our brain, and immediately a memory of the wonderful taste is stored. We find ourselves often craving that particular food. Crave is a powerful word, and is synonymous to yearn, long for, pine after, need, want, hanker, hunger, ache, desire, and require. As I was praying recently, the Lord spoke to my heart and asked, “Do you crave me?”
Wow, what a question! As I ponder my response, I thought about the times in my life that I did crave God, longing for his presence, and I found that they all had something in common. I desired God when things in my life were not as I wanted, and I was in a dark place filled with fear and discouragement. When I began to study many of the Psalms, I realized that often the author was also in a dark place as he longed for God.
The psalmist says in 42:1-5, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” Did you notice the mention of tears and a weary soul? He was struggling in his life as he penned this psalm. You will find struggling to be the case more often than not. He yearned and longed for God once the bottom fell out and everything seemed to be swirling out of control. This behavior raises questions. Can we not crave God when everything in our lives is calm and peaceful? Why must things be bad before we yearn for God? Must God allow difficult things to come into our lives so we will want him?
To find out the answer to these spiritual questions, we must understand more about our physical and emotional makeup. We must look closely at the brain and how it works. According to research, a craving can be tied to mental state and memory. So, some scientists call food cravings “mind hunger.” A craving is strongly related and similar to an addiction. When it comes down to it, memories are really the brain re-experiencing an event, and when the event has been pleasant, the brain desires to relive that event. This desire creates the craving or the addiction. Rewards and pleasure causes the release of a hormone called Dopamine. This feel-good hormone is released and your entire body tingles with anticipation. It’s as if your whole being is crying out saying, “This is what I’ve been waiting for. Give it to me now! I must have this because it is good!” Now let’s put this into a spiritual context.
When everything is difficult, we seek God for relief, and as Christians, we know that God brings the relief in his time. So from our past experience and memories, we run to God in prayer waiting on him to change our circumstance, and once he does, we feel good. This feeling associates the craving for God with difficult times, but unfortunately, we do not link the times that are peaceful and trauma free to God. We only see God as a pleasure or a reward when everything is bad and he fixes the issues. We only see a spare tire as wonderful and pleasant when we are stranded on the side of the road with a flat, but when we are driving around on four good tires, the spare tire is the farthest thing from our mind. God wants his children to crave him continually, and you can rest assured that he continually yearns for his children. We are always on his mind. While studying this topic I came across a story of a man that had a God craving that I would like to share with you all.
A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book “The Wonders of the Word of God.” The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. In a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.
How many of us can say we’ve read through the Bible four times — with two good eyes? This man had a craving — and even losing his eyesight wouldn’t prevent him from reading God’s Word. This story made me feel quite small. My craving for God is lacking, and I want to do everything in my power to change. I do not need hardships, troubles, and trials to crave God or to experience his goodness because he is rewarding and pleasurable every day of life! We just need to taste and see that God is good!
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)