In the calm clarity of confession, we begin to see that we depend upon food for many reasons. We reach for food to fill an unnamed emptiness, when we need to feel whole and secure. We search out food to calm down, when we need to unwind and relax. We use food to break out of boredom, when we need a spark to stimulate. We turn to food for fun, when we want some pleasure out of life. Food is our comforter and our protector. Food is our tranquilizer. Food is our energizer. Food is our entertainer.
As we look back on how we’ve used food, a pattern begins to take shape. We use food to provide ourselves with:
- Security
- Relaxation
- Stimulation
- Pleasure
We depend on food for fundamental feelings of security, relaxation, stimulation, and pleasure. Food, a basic source of satisfaction, is used to provide basic feelings of well-being. If this is true, perhaps this idea can be taken one step further. We can match these modern psychological words with ancient words of higher spiritual meaning:
- Love
- Peace
- Hope
- Joy
Notice how love matches security. Peace easily corresponds with relaxation. Hope coincides with stimulation. Joy fits well with pleasure. Much has been written about the emotional hunger for love, as being a primary cause of overeating. That wonderful insight gets to the heart of the human need for security and self-esteem. Yet we see there are other hungers we are trying to satisfy. We may search for a sublime sense of inner peace. We may long for a light of hope in the midst of discouragement. We may want more out of life, even the promise of joy.
Love, peace, hope, and joy—are these what we seek when we engage in temptation of any kind? Are they elevated feelings, perhaps spiritual emotions? Can we sum them up in one word—happiness? If so, then we come to understand that we’re searching for happiness when we overeat. We’ve depended on food, rather than God, in our search for happiness.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
Proverbs 3:17–18
