Spiritual
Thirst
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matt.
5: 6.
In
this verse, our Lord is giving a blessing on those that hunger and
thirst. I would like to share a little
from God’s word about thirst,… and being thirsty. Only those who experience this thirst will be aware of the
blessing that comes from it, and it is those who thirst and are aware of
their great need that will be filled.
In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. John 7: 37.
Jesus
said that for anyone to come to Him and be able to drink of
Him, there is the pre-condition of
thirst, If any man
thirst………...the thirst must come before the drinking.
We
must be aware of our own thirst, and also of the dry condition that
exists in the world around us. David
has described this in Psalm 63: He
cries out to the Lord that his own soul thirsts, and not only that, but
that he is indeed living in a land where there is no water.
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.
If
we realize the dryness and emptiness of the things of the world,…. but
….it has the effect of making us understand our own spiritual thirst, then we
are truly blessed to have that understanding, ……as our Lord has said in the
beautitude…..And we can flee to Him-- and He will fill us with His
living water.
The
prophet Isaiah gives us a wonderful word concerning those who are thirsty:
For
I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and
floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my
blessing upon thine offspring. Isaiah
44:3.
And
again Isaiah speaks, Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Isaiah
55:1.
We
see again in this passage that it is the awareness of our need that is required
to be able to drink. It is he that has
no money, no way of his own to obtain the drink. But it is freely given to the one who knows his own poverty of
spirit, that is, his thirst.
We
are all very thankful for the rain we had the other night, but during this time
of drought, it caused me to experience a greater sense, not only my own inner thirst, but of the thirst of the creation
itself. I found myself thirsting
along with the trees, the birds, and the very ground.
But
when the rain came, the sense of joy and thankfulness was a great blessing to
me, and I realized how much I had taken rain for granted. Paul and I sat in prayer and thanksgiving
and watched the rain come down. So,
although it has been stressful, I am thankful for the experience of a greater
thankfulness for rain itself being a great blessing from God.
I
believe spiritual thirst causes a greater praise to come forth from us, as
David reflects in our reading from Ps. 42, …..that when he thought upon his
thirst, then he went to the
house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that
kept holy day.
Brothers
and sisters, I believe it is because of a spiritual thirst that we gather
together to lift our voices in praise to Him. I believe that we thirst for it-- and
because of this desire-- we come together.
Often in life there is a drought, so to speak, of being able to assemble
together with other believers, ….but then--- we experience a thirst for it, and
the coming together to sing and pray in His name becomes an even greater
blessing.
You
know, the woman at the well was not really aware of her spiritual thirst, until
our Lord spoke to her of the true water.
Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
again: 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.
The
woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither
to draw. (That is, from a mere
natural water). Actually, without a
second thought, she left her waterpot after a face to face meeting with the
true living water.
Let us be thankful for that spiritual thirst that brings
us to this true living water. And let
us ask the Lord to keep us ever mindful of our need for that water, that we
might worship in spirit and in truth and drink from the water which He only can
give.
And (they) did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock
was Christ. 1 Cor. 10:4.
In
the Name of our Precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, …Amen.
Written during a time of drought in North GA.
