Have you ever been so thirsty, in dire need of a drink, that you tried to relieve your thirst with an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola or Fanta? What was the result? After the drink, the thirst seemed to increase. Someone said nothing quenches thirst like water, good old H2O. Cold or not, it has been proven over and over again that water is the best answer to thirst. Thank God our physical thirst can be quenched.
But how do you handle a thirst that seems to have no remedy? Have you ever been thirsty for God, for the presence of God?
“Thirsty for God?” you say. Yes! Can a person be thirsty for God? Ask King David (Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 63:1-2, Psalm 48:1-2), and ask the Lord Jesus our Saviour (Matthew 5:6).
When we begin to desire more of God, God births in us a deeper thirst for Him. What a paradox!
The psalmist not only experienced thirst; he also experienced hunger. He had a thirst and a hunger for God’s presence, and to see God’s power and glory displayed. Is God then a drink?
I heard Him say that He is the fountain of living waters, the fountain of life. He offered “water” to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. On the great day of the feast in John 7:37, He called all who were thirsty to come to Him, declaring that He had the answer to their thirst. Was He offering to quench their physical thirst? No!
So we can face a dryness that no water, pure or impure, cold or not, can remedy. How do you cultivate this thirst for God? Desire! (Psalm 63:1-3, Psalm 42:1-2)
When we begin to desire more of God, God births in us a deeper thirst for Him. What a paradox! The more we thirst for Him and He satisfies our thirst, the more we thirst for Him. Thirst for God, when satisfied, even for a moment, births a deeper thirst, which when satisfied births a deeper thirst still. We keep going back to Him, our source of living waters, because as long as we truly desire Him, we will always have an unquenchable thirst.