Cravings are a daily challenge in my life, like the craving for dark chocolate. I have to manage that one, and a few others, so I can keep re-losing the same five pounds that are my old “frenemies.”

After the Lord helped me quit smoking in 1987, I thought I’d never meet the likes of those overwhelming cravings again, but then along came Downton Abbey.

We usually think of cravings in connection with things that aren’t good for us, but there are good things to crave in life. I’ve never craved that green stuff that tastes grass, but I should because it is great for our bodies.

Yearnings, cravings and longings tell a lot about us: where we’ve been, what we’ve tasted. Hundreds of Bible verses express the longings of both God and man. In Psalm 84:2, a priest wrote of his cravings:

“My soul longs and yearns for the courts of the Lord,” and “My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”

When I read these words, I want to know why the priest felt all that. Why did he hunger so much for the house of God? Why and how does one come to crave being near God?

What is it like to have one’s heart and flesh sing for joy?

Most Christians know what it’s like to sing songs in church with a heart disconnected from the words. I know what it’s like to sing to God or about Him while thinking about what I’m going to cook for lunch.

How did this priest come to have such a craving for God? The answer is that he had tasted God. Really tasted and experienced Him, in a way that left him craving more. He didn’t have to make himself go to temple and sing, he craved the experience.

In my early years of being a Christian, Scriptures like this blew away dry doctrine. They left me unsatisfied with dry dutiful religion: do the right thing, keep faith in God, just believe, no matter how you feel.

True, there is a place for keeping faith when you feel nothing. There will always be those moments. But God never meant for us to have the whole of our life on earth with him be THAT. Scripture reveals a God who is passionate to share life with His people and wants them to feel that same passion for Him.

Passion always begins first with a choice.

I make choices every time I consider what to taste, eat, read, watch, and do. Every choice builds a case for future choices: I either want to do that again, or I don’t. We crave things because they give us pleasure, or make us feel great. We crave things because they are life-giving and invigorating. I have craved vigorous exercise and grassy-tasting green drinks — because I feel awesome afterwards

The priest who wrote Psalm 84:2 clearly knew what that was like. He felt awesome from being around God. He felt energized, nurtured, happy, joyful in God’s presence. Who wouldn’t want more of that. He yearned to be near God. No nagging Sunday School teacher had to make him go to visit God. Yet Christians often settle for less, and stop expecting a real experience with God.

The words of this priest make me jealous for an authentic encounter with God so compelling and nourishing that I must have it regularly. Years ago when I first read Psalm 84, I went looking for that experience. I didn’t want to settle for anything less than a taste of God that would leave me joyful and make me crave more of Him in my life.

Where and how does one find an experience of God like this?

Is it more time on your knees, praying? Does it come from reading Scripture an extra hour every day? Does it come from participating in lively worship services?

All these things are good and needful in cultivating a great relationship with God. Yet one can do all these things and not truly taste of God, if one thing is missing. That one thing is a Person: the Holy Spirit.

When I received the Spirit fully into my life and began paying attention to His faithful Presence, everything changed. The Bible reading, prayers, and worship all became encounters with the Living God that gave me a genuine thirst for more.

How did that happen? The Spirit gives me daily tastes of the real love and wonderfulness of my heavenly Father and Jesus. They are addictive Persons. They are nourishing. Their fellowship gives, and never takes away. They are happy, and they love me! God’s sheer goodness and the pleasantness of His personality blow away the competition for my craving button. I think God made us with addictive tendencies so we would develop an undeniable appetite for Him.

Perhaps you are like I once was: wishing you wanted God more, jealous of others who enjoy Him — but never seem to get there. Have you received the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit? If not, why not? What are you waiting for? What holds you back from reaching for the only one who can give you a true taste of God, every day?