Seeking Comfort from God instead of Food

I don’t know about you, but the lockdown during this Corona virus pandemic has thrown many people like myself further into emotional or comfort eating.  My friend and Bible Study partner Leisha and I recently looked at why we are not running to God for our comfort and what is making us turn to food instead. Let’s begin by looking at the definition of comfort -

• noun - a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. 
• verb - the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress; to give solace or to soothe.

The verb comfort comes from the Latin word comfortare, which means to “strengthen greatly.” As a noun, comfort is anything that provides satisfaction or a relaxed and easy feeling.

We escape to food for many reasons, but sometimes it can become our hiding place, where we eat our feelings or emotions that we’d prefer not to deal with, or find hard to express.  Unfortunately, as delicious as some food can be, it can never fully satisfy us or fill that void we are insatiably trying to fill.   

If your diet is full of sugar, carbs, salt or additives, these are addictive, in which case you need to ask yourself if it is time to fast these or do a detox so you can break their stronghold.  Anything you are craving, is for a reason.

God gave us His Holy Spirit, who should be our built-in Comforter, but when we choose to turn to food instead, it blocks out His power and defeats us from gaining victory in this area. 

Some of the things we can try to stop us turning to food is the following:-

1. Ask God for help – not for the willpower to stop but to give you a true hate of this sin of gluttony
2. Fast from thinking about yourself and focus on God and others – doing this will stop our thoughts turning to food
3. Turn to your Holy Spirit and read your Bible, until you feel satisfied and comforted
4. Recognize your triggers and addictions – I need a…
5. Be accountable to one another in your successes and failures.  When you share your triumphs and struggles you will no longer be hiding the problem, and by exposing it, you can find healing.
6. Be mindful when you eat, and savor each bite slowly, focusing and celebrating God as the provider of it.
7. Stop eating on autopilot and start listening to your body when it says it is full 
8. Eat for fuel and nourishment and not for entertainment or pleasure.

Food fixations or desires is a sign that food has become your master and that you are a slave to food.  Yes, even food can become an idol, especially when we are worshiping it instead of God!

When we are going through a tough time, we need to assess our thoughts and problems and name our emotions.  When we speak them out aloud, we will find we won’t be tempted to run to food for comfort.  Instead, eat a ‘daily bread’ verse and ask God to fill you with the kind of comfort that you are needing.

We need to have a good relationship with food and stop obsessing about it. Even healthy eating to the extreme is bad for you. When we seek to find our satisfaction in God and not in food, we will realize that only God can give us the kind of comfort that sustains us and brings us joy.

Food is not our enemy.  It is a good and delicious gift from God, that was designed to be eaten and enjoyed in fellowship with others, to give us the energy and nourishment our bodies need.  It is not God’s design for us to be bingeing on our own, with junk food or snacks that adds no value.

Satan is our enemy who has used food to distort our relationship with God and uses food to hijack our intimacy with our Comforter. The lies that the devil uses are: -

• I need to finish what’s on the plate
• I deserve this if you’ve had a bad day (reward yourself with a treat)
• A little bit more won’t matter
• I’ll do better tomorrow – my diet starts on Monday

A small bite of something delicious can become an act of worship – you don’t need to eat the whole cake or the whole packet of crisps.

We need to start craving God and developing an appetite and a hunger to consume His Word as our Daily Bread.  When we hide God’s Word in our heart, (memorize it) He will use it as a sword of truth when we need it.

Here are some bible verses to help use as weapons when we are fighting this battle: -

Psalms 34 – Taste what is good. Change your delight focus from the food to the source of the food. 

Psalm 23:4 – staff & rod comforts us – for protection and rescue 

Isaiah 55:2 – nothing can satisfy us except God 

Isaiah 66:13 – God comfort’s us like a mother 

Psalm 119:50/76 – God’s love and promises comfort us 

Proverbs 13:25 - a righteous man eats until his heart (soul) is content or eats enough to satisfy his appetite.  

Matthew 5:4 – the mourning will be comforted 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit - therefore honour God with it 

1 Corinthians 10:13 – you will not be tempted beyond what you can bear. Endure it, until it passes 

1 Corinthians 10:31 - eat or drink for the glory of God 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – the purpose of comfort is for it to be a cycle – God comforts and encourages you, so you can comfort and encourage others. (Give a dose of hope) 

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 – God gives us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comforts our hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

My prayer is if you too are struggling in this area, that this information will be of benefit to you in helping you to seek and receive your comfort from God, instead of from food.

As I continue daily, to resist the temptation to turn to food and by acknowledging my emotions and what kind of comfort I am needing, I am finding it easier to turn to God instead, and I hope you will too. Each opportunity is a choice we must make to either turn to food for our comfort, or to God, our true and only real source of Comfort.

Trash to Treasure

I love living in my complex at month end, especially one with such a well utilised, effective recycling area. The end of April saw the delight of another great find at the ‘Pre-loved’ corner in our bin area, where I got to rummage amongst a huge box of books. In God’s gracious, amazing goodness, there were even books on writing, as well as a Christian devotional, which you could say, had my name on them!  I also claimed a bag full of brand-new gift bags, which now just needs gifts to fill them. Previous treasures have included plants, Tupperware’s, magazines, scarfs and even fancy boxes.

I have always been perplexed at what a throwaway society we have become, and although I wouldn’t quite call myself a dumpster diver, I must confess I get very excited to see what treats have been left aside at month end or when residents clear out or move out.

It has made me reflect on how sometimes our dreams can be someone else’s nightmare.  Whilst one person may be praying for a spouse, someone may be wishing they were single again.  Likewise, someone is longingly broody for a child, whilst another may not quite enjoy being a parent.  I realise this is quite extreme cases, and not as superficial as ‘trash’, but it makes the point that what one person throws away, another is delighted to receive.

The key is all in our perspective of what makes something truly valuable.  Although I applaud the actions of residents moving out to gift their unwanted belongings to someone else, I have to wonder on what value they placed on the items in the first place. To throw away anything would imply that it is unwanted ‘trash’, but to someone else it could be regarded as a quite a treasured treat.

I leave you with the thought that whatever you don’t want, someone else might love, so learn to be grateful with appreciation of what God has blessed you with. Value what you have, sell or gift what you no longer need and please continue to recycle…