10 Sermon Illustrations on Spiritual Hunger

Every man is born with aspiration. It does not develop in every man: neither do half the buds in trees blossom; but they are there. And there is aspiration in every man, whether you suspect or not, and though it may not blossom. Aspiration means tendril, twining, or any thing else by which one climbs upward, holding on by the way to whatever will support it. Some plants take hold by winding around, some by little roots, some by tendrils, some by hooks, and some by leaves that catch like anchors. But these things take hold, not for the sake of staying when they take hold, but only that they may climb higher. And so it is with men. We clasp things above by every part of our nature, one after another, not for the sake of remaining when we take hold, but that we may go higher. In other words, when, in the ordinary experience of life, we gain satisfaction, we do it almost only by feeding on each other. When we attain development, we do that in the same way. The soul feeds on soul whether for satisfaction or development. Beecher.

Once, a king, in crossing the desert in a lone caravan, was parched with thirst. Dreadful is that dry and thirsty land where no water is! The sands were strewn with the wrecks of caravans, the skeletons of men who had died of thirst lying in that dread cemetery; and then the cry arose, "Water, water! there is no water!" It was a fearful moment. Parched throats and eyes hopelessly looked up to the all-too-cloudy sky along the plain; overhead, the red-hot copper sun. Then said one, "We must let loose the harts, — the light, fleet harts." They bounded in all directions. Keen in their instinctive scent of water, the spring was found; and then, when they sat to rest beside the beautiful and blessed pool, — then said the king, as he took forth his tablets and wrote, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."

— E. P. Hood

The more we know, the greater our thirst for knowledge. The water-lily, in the midst of waters, opens its leaves and expands its petals at the first pattering of showers, and rejoices in the raindrops with a quicker sympathy than the parched shrub in the sandy desert. Coleridge.

Ælian reports of one Nicostratus, that being a skilful artificer, and finding a curious piece of art, he was so much taken with it, that a spectator, beholding him very intent in viewing the workmanship, asked him what pleasure he could take in gazing so long upon such an object. He answered, "Hadst thou my eyes, thou wouldst be as much ravished as I am." So may we say of carnal persons, had they the hearts and dispositions of believers, they would be as much delighted with all means of communion with God, as they are, and account that their privilege which now they esteem their vexation. C. Buck.

Men sigh on, not knowing what the soul wants, but only that it needs something. Our yearnings are homesicknesses for heaven; our sighings are for God; just as children that cry themselves asleep away from home, and sob in their slumber, know not that they sob for their parents. The soul's inarticulate moanings are the affections yearning for the Infinite, and having no one to tell them what it is that ails them.

— Beecher