Folabi Nuel – I Used To Be Hungry

As my desperation bounced on Heaven’s door
‘Til the owner revealed Himself
Days when my desire for His word spread like wildfire
Shot-up in my bones, hot on my tongue
Consuming my whole life as a living sacrifice

I had an appetite as wide as the ocean of grace
That swept me into His presence
Making every minutes of mine, his for the taking
And with a deep longing, acknowledging Him as vital as food

I sought him with all of me
I, I used to be hungry
I ate ’til I convinced myself I was full
So the sleep that comes after a meal
Arrived to carry a full fool like me
Who, like Peter, couldn’t watch and pray
And, in my garden of Gethsemane, the enemies saw tears

He saw tears of business
Pride, laziness, comfort, complencency and pretence
He stole my gift of hunger, killed my appetite
And gradually destroyed my taste for the things of God
I heard a voice asking this cup to pass over me
My spirit was willing, but, oh
Oh, this body, this flesh, all so weak

I began to desire
The miracles were not the God of then
My bible became an inconvenience, hah, ooh

I found myself neither hot nor cold
Just sitting on a fence
Hence my reluctance to forgive
And speed in patching a fence
Everything I had known started to smell like nonsense

Like the bread of life became stale
Maybe, just maybe, He didn’t multiply the loafs and fish
Maybe the baskets were two, instead of 12
Maybe 15, not 5000
Maybe I had to earn His love, salvation and forgiveness
Maybe no blood was shed
Maybe it was all a dream

I has tasted and seen that the Lord is good
But now my palate craved what was beyond
The feast He has prepared for me

Oh, oh, this is a revelation
There is a plague of draughts in my land
Pharaoh, please, let me go, oh

Somebody, somebody tell me why
I am parched when I can no longer drink
Tell me why my spirit is lean
Like the ears of grain Joseph interpreted
As a season of famine and hunger

Oh, this is a revelation
There is a plague of draughts in my land
Pharaoh, please, let me go, oh

Oh, this is a revelation
I finally realized that
No matter how much of this world I eat
I will never be satisfied
No matter how much of this world I eat
I will never, ever, be satisfied

This is a revelation
I am empty, uh, but You are full
I am hungry, but You are bread
I am thirsty, but You are the fountain of life, aha
Oh, I am broken, but You are whole
I am dying, but Your steadfast love is better than life
What I lack, You are full of, ah
What I am doubting, You are sure of, ha
What I confess, You will cover

So lets us colorfast, let us pray
For every time I say a prayer
I need your resounding “Amens”
Lets us colorfast, let us pray

I decline every tray of food filled with delicacies
If they deprive me of the one that completely satiates (Amen)

Alright, ha, I fast off every idol, every ideology that is not of God (Amen)
Alright, I pull down every stronghold strongly pulling me from my God (Amen)
Alright, the more I eat of God, the more I hunger for Him (Amen)

Blessed, nourished by God’s goodness
Are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
But they shall be completely satisfied (Amen)

I am back in the Hunger Games (Amen)
Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing
Will keep from being famished from God (Amen), amen

So you see, I no longer wonder
Why the strongest and most mature Christians I have met
Are the hungriest for God
Because now I understand, now I understand this gift of hunger
Now I understand that this hunger game has its own set of rules

Now I understand
I understand that it is the blessing that reminds us of our humanness
And the truth that there is a God
That we all walk around with a God-shaped void only he can fill
There are saints, there is glory to come
Which we earnestly long and wait for

It is the blessing that reminds us that we need God
For you see, this is not just a call to remain hungry
This is a call to also eat of God

But we are not in ourselves
We are not in ourselves able to win this battle
We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture
Nor are we able to wake-up the sleeping population if we stay hungry
We must eat

This is not just a call to remain hungry
But a reminder to eat of God
There is walk ahead
So we must hunger and we must eat

See, you can’t give what you don’t have
That’s why you need to eat
You can’t give what you don’t have
That’s why you need to eat

There is work ahead
You must hunger and you must eat
See, I used to be hungry
I used to be hungry, but the truth is
I still am