Appetite

A hunger or desire for something. Although the primary reference of the term is to a hunger for food, it can also refer to other human desires. Scripture distinguishes between healthy and unhealthy appetites, indicating what it is appropriate to seek after.

Appetite as physical hunger

Numbers 11:6; Proverbs 6:30 See also Psalm 107:5–9; Proverbs 16:26; Ecclesiastes 6:7; Isaiah 29:8; Jeremiah 31:25, Jeremiah 50:19; Lamentations 2:12

But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!”

Men do not despise the thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger.

Appetite as a spiritual hunger

Psalm 143:6; Proverbs 25:25; Matthew 5:6 See also Psalm 119:20, Psalm 119:131

I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The gospel satisfies human hunger and thirst

John 4:13–14, John 6:35 See also Psalm 42:2; Isaiah 55:1; John 6:27, John 6:50–51, John 7:37; Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:17

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.

Lust as sexual appetite

Proverbs 6:25; Ezekiel 23:11; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5