Cravings

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am reading 1Peter 2.

Verse 2 says, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,"

So I must do the craving? Another conscious decision! It is not natural, it is not easy and it changes me.

CRAVE: to ask for earnestly : beg , demand
to want greatly : need
to yearn for
to have a strong or inward desire

Have you ever thought about how cravings begin? Me either. But now that I am thinking about it, all the cravings I have are of things I like. A craving is a strong desire that comes from missing what I want. I have created cravings. I crave time with family, sex, good food, sports, bad food, friends and just ok food. I have many cravings. They come from enjoying things that I have tried. You can not have a craving for something you haven't tried. How could you crave chocolate if you never tried it? You couldn't!

So, when Peter tells us to "crave pure spiritual milk" what is he saying? We must crave God's Word like we craved milk when we were babies. How can I CRAVE God's word you ask? Look at verse 2 as written above, did you notice the comma at the end? That means verse 3 continues the thought.

"now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

I have to taste the Lord before I can crave Him. I have to be in His Word before I can crave it. Check this out. When children were learning the Torah (the 1st 5 books of our Bible) they read the words and then honey was put on the paper or tablet and they licked the honey from it. The purpose was for the child to see the Torah as being as sweet as honey and to crave more.

This is what Peter is telling us. I need to crave the word because it is as sweet as honey and the "perfect food" for my spirit. It never spoils.

The more I "eat" of the "perfect food" the more I want it. When I abstain from it I lose the desire for it.

So I must be in God's word to crave it, and I must stay in God's word to feed the craving. When I don't feed the craving it eventually fades away.

I have tasted the Lord and I know He is good. I crave more of Him. I pray that I will continue to feed.