The Hunger in Your Heart

12.11.11

Philemon 15, 16 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. NIV

Okay, you’re a slave named Onesimus (Aw – knee – see – moose) and one day you’ve had enough and you go to the spring to get the water and just like a river that don’t know where its flowing, you take a wrong turn and you just keep goin’. Ev’ry body got a hungry heart.* Onesimus flees his master.

And so after being on your own for some time learning how to live by stealing chickens and figuring out which berries are good for you and which ones aren’t, you meet this guy named Paul. The hunger in your heart that made you flee is for the first time in your life being sated by something called truth. And you believe what Paul is saying because he’s saying your story and right before your very eyes, your life changes.

And now, after some time, one day you confess to Paul that you are an escaped slave and you’re owned by a guy named, Philemon. Paul’s expression breaks into a broad grin as he starts to put the pieces together and a plan is hatched because of the truth and based on the truth: you have to go back to Philemon and own up.

The irony of this story makes me laugh: of all the people for Onesimus to get tangled up with in his escape, it’s Paul the Apostle. God knew just what Onesimus needed…and He knew what Philemon needed as well. Perhaps there would be some healing. Perhaps there would be a new freedom along with the freedom in Christ. We can only speculate of the outcome but the irony is astounding.

Sometimes, it seems the more we run, the more we run into God. Sometimes we have to run a long, long way and when we get there the Only One to meet us is God. Sometimes we get there and there ain’t nobody and we look back and there is God. When we are His, He may let us run but He won’t let us hide: He is always there. Onesimus’ story makes me laugh because of the omniscient love of God; He knows who are His and where they are all the time.

The other thing is to stay put. Fleeing from God may be a natural reaction, but the supernatural reaction is to stay put… even when things are getting desperate. We can live by the natural and when we do we’ll always settle for less; sometimes tragically so; but when we live by the supernatural then God’s provision for us often becomes ironic beyond words, and our love for Him grows in ways it otherwise could never …

Everybody has a hungry heart and the one who trusts in Jesus will find it fed in just the way it takes to make the heart bloom into a precious jewel in the crown of God.

* Hungry Heart  Bruce Springsteen, October 1980, © Columbia Records