A SPIRITUAL APPETITE

BY J. M. HUMPHREY

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth

my soul after thee, O God" (Psa. 42:1).

Among the first gifts imparted by God to newly

born souls is an intense desire for spiritual things,

yea, something that calls the soul away from every

earthly pleasure or treasure and fills it with an all-

consuming passion for God. The poet expresses this

thought in the following lines :

"My soul breaks out with strong desire,

Thy perfect bliss to prove;

My longing heart is all on fire,

To be dissolved in love."

This is not only the condition of every newly born

soul, but the condition of every true child of God,

however filled with the Spirit. There is something

in the heart of every Christian that yearns day and

night for the whole image of God. They are like the

busy bee craving honey, which goes from flower to

flower, and from field to field, in search of the idol

of its life. So it is with the Christian; his inmost

being cries out continually for more of God. He

earnestly pursues Him in every act of life; yea, in

reading and meditating on the Word. He earnestly

pursues Him in the closet of prayer, and in the public

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188 SELECT FRUITS

services continually. There is such an all-consuming

passion filling his inmost being, that at times it

seems as if his soul would take wings and fly away.

Souls thus possessed with an ever-yearning de-

sire for more of God never oppose holiness or getting

more of God. They are like misers who are hungry

for another mite. People who oppose holiness and

getting a better experience are wofully backslidden,

no matter if they are preachers or presiding elders.

The reason why it is so difficult to get people to

attend the prayer and class meetings is because they

have lost their relish for God. Hence it is an irk-

some task to read the Bible and attend the services.

But it is no difficulty to get them to attend an enter-

tainment, or an ice-cream party, because they relish

such things. In the natural world, if one loses his

appetite and refuses to eat, it is not long before we

have a funeral on hand. So it is in the spiritual

world ; when people lose their appetite for secret

prayer, reading the Word, attending the services of

the Lord, it is not long before the church has a

spiritual corpse on her hands. But the great mis-

take with her is she fails to bury her dead; hence

hundreds of her living children catch the same ma-

lady and perish. It is so much so, that it is quite

difficult to find a real healthy Christian.

What I mean by a real healthy Christian is one

who is all aflame and on fire for God, with an in-

creasing desire for Him and His truth, and walking

in all the light of the Bible. Of course we find a few

of this kind here and there, as we go over the land,

for which we are thankful, but the majority of the

preachers and church members are as dead to God

A SPIRITUAL APPETITE 189

and holiness as the soldiers who died in the Civil

War. They would be as much out of place in a holi-

ness meeting as a span of mules would be in heaven

drawing a mud wagon. The only longings and soul

cravings they have are for a new style hat or a new

gown or to have a new church (meeting house),

where God is only allowed during a funeral (so to

speak). When things are viewed from this stand-

point it is easy to see why the modern preacher and

his members fight clean living and holiness like

tigers.

<ow, reader, be honest; have you ever felt this

deep yearning for God ? If not, you have never been

converted and born of the Spirit. If you once had

it, have you it now — that deep heart cry for more of

God, that intense desire for the Word, that high

regard for the prayer and preaching services, that

soul burden for the lost of earth? If you have not

at least a measure of this, you are wofully backslid-

den and out of touch with God.

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