Thirsty for God
It had been a long day, and I was looking forward to sleep. I lay still for a while and just as I got warm and comfortable and began to feel I might drift off any moment... it hit me.
I was thirsty.
the thirst didn't bother me until I actually recognized the thought. Then it became persistent. Annoyed, I tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but to no avail. My mouth and throat began to get dry and I knew if I fell asleep then, my sleep would be fitful at best, filled with dreams of deserts, climaxing when I finally found water, only to wake up at the crucial moment to the memory of my real-life thirst.
Maybe this story is familiar to you. It's funny how all-consuming thirst can be. It's our bodies' way of alerting us to the fact that water is indeed necessary for life.
My problem is, that I don't particularly like drinking water. I would much rather have coffee or tea or something that at least tastes good, but water is what my body needs, and those things I would rather fill my thirst with are often the things that will leave me the most thirsty for more. But the more I discipline myself to drink water, the more I actually begin to desire it. I get thirsty and crave water, because that is what my body is used to receiving. And the more I satisfy that craving with water, the more the water actually begins to taste good to me.
The more water I drink, the easier it is to make healthy choices about what I use to satisfy my thirst.
Did you know that is the same way it's meant to be with God? Listen to how the Bible relates thirst to our relationship with God:
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.
My soul panteth for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:1-2)
"O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is" (Psalm 63:1)
"I stretch forth my hands unto Thee: my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land. Selah" (Psalm 143:6)
And Jesus Himself says:
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6)
Not only is this thirst for righteousness to be filled, its life-giving flow is to abound. As Jesus told the woman at the well:
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)
And later He proclaims in the midst of a crowd, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)
We are not just containers to be filled with the fullness of God (Eph.3:19), we are to be rivers, pouring abundantly into the lives of others around us. As we satisfy our thirst for God, we will not only turn to Him more readily to satisfy our thirst, but our satisfaction will be so abundant that it will affect everyone around us. And that is what makes the world look at us and see the fullness of God. It is what brings to their hearts the question of how we can be so fulfilled while their lives feel so empty.