I am an emotional eater. I eat when I’m bored. I eat when I’m upset. I eat when I’m scared. I eat to fill holes that are created by hurt, loneliness, depression, etc. I eat with the expectation of the impossible; that somehow, this food will do what only God can do. Sound familiar?
I recently completed a devotion about overcoming food struggles. I had to look at my relationship with food in a very different way. I was forced to look at it through the eyes of God. Understanding the struggle required going back to the beginning and God’s original intent.
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Genesis 1:29 NIV
The first fact to acknowledge is food was given to us as a gift. Then the gift was used to manipulate us into questioning God’s love. Eve did not eat the fruit because she was hungry for food. She ate it because she somehow believed it would make her wise. She forgot or ignored the gifts around her which were given to her from the Father’s heart. And, the complicated relationship between women and food began.
What are you hungry for?
I am amazed at how often I think I’m hungry. The mind is able to make the body believe it needs something when it doesn’t. This includes believing you need one thing when the true longing is for something else. Immediate satisfaction rarely fulfills the longing of your soul. This is why food, as well as things like sex, drugs and money, tend to be a temporary fix. After five days of studying this complicated relationship, I learned the source of true fulfillment.
Listen and learn too.