THIRSTING FOR GOD
Psalm
42:1-5 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?" These things I remember as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of
God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. Why are you
downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I
will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
“Thirst for
God. We know the body’s thirst when there is no water; we know the thirst of
our passion for life and good fortune. Do we know also the soul’s thirst for
God? A God who is only an ideal can never still this thirst. Our soul thirsts
for the living God, the God and Source of all true life. When will God quench
our thirst? When will we come to appear before his presence: To be with God is
the goal of all life and is itself eternal life. We are in God’s presence with
Jesus Christ, the crucified. If we have found God’s presence here, then we
thirst to enjoy it completely in eternity.”
Restless we
are all the days of our lives. Because of our sin nature, we can never be fully
satisfied in this life. Yes, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit but we still
retain the blemish of sin in our nature. This blemish keeps us longing for full
recovery from sin. We hunger and thirst after God. We seek comfort in his
fellowship. Life’s journey is an up and down journey. It is because of our
incompleteness in our human condition that keeps us thirsting after God until
the day we can be fulfilled in His kingdom.
Knowing the
spiritual restlessness that remains will help us continue to fight for the day
of our complete healing in heaven. Each day this side of glory is a battle to
be encouraged and faithful to the God who provides true refreshment and food.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father help me to thirst for you. Help me to see the spiritual need
that lives within me. May your spirit enlighten my will to seek the quenching
power of your living water, Jesus Christ. May my thirst always be for him and
not for this world. Amen.
