THIRSTY

Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You….  (Psalm 63:1a)

We have a thirst in our soul for God.  This is why humans are inherently religious—we know there is something else, something more—someone above and beyond us that we want to know.  Man was created with the capacity to walk with God—Adam and Eve did, until they chose the path of disobedience and then the fellowship was broken—infidelity disrupting intimacy.  God, in grace, reached out to His fallen creatures—and still does today.  We can once more know the Father through the Son by the Spirit.  Nothing else can satisfy the thirst in our souls.  We must drink from the well of salvation. It is the living water Jesus promised. 

We must also acknowledge that even as God’s people, we may foolishly turn from drinking deeply of God and pursue the world’s empty cisterns.  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  (Jer.2:13).

In Psalm 63, we find David in a place of barrenness, expressing this deep thirst for God (v.1).  God will seal up the Scripture, shut up the heavens to prayer, shrivel up the joy in worship—whatever it takes to intensify our thirst, and drive us in desperation to Him.  We find satisfaction in God only when we desire satisfaction in Him alone.  It is not a passion for what His hand can give us, but a desire to see His face and abide in His presence.  This is one reason why God sends troubles into the lives of His children—to drive us to Himself.  Trials have a way of diminishing our taste for the things of this world and elevating our thirst for the eternal.

David desired to see the manifestation of God’s power and glory (v.2).  It was not enough to hear about what God had done for others in the past—he wanted to experience it in the present for himself.   Listening to someone describe the sensation of drinking from a clear, cold mountain stream is not the same as taking a drink!  The testimony can make you salivate, but only the experience can bring you satisfaction.  Theologically, we may know the Lord is omnipresent in our doctrine, but experientially, we long to know Him manifestly in our daily life! 

This demands seeking God wholeheartedly in His Word and in prayer.  The corporate worship with the saints in the house of God can encourage us as we gather with others.  The sermons and songs can stir us to seek God.  It is in the daily quiet time—sitting before and open Bible and kneeling with an open heart in prayer, however, that will ultimately lead us into divine encounters.  This is the only way to know God’s power and glory.

The thirst for God will lead us to be satisfied with His love (v.3-6).  We will meditate on Him and rejoice in God—knowing His lovingkindness that is better than life itself.  We will experience the very life of God (v.7-11) and in so doing find true meaning in life.  Apart from Him, there is only an existence.  In Him, we rejoice—fully alive!  The presence of God does not alleviate all our opposition (v.9-11)—the Devil will see to that!  Yet, God is our Deliverer.  Having Him, we have the victory.  We must press on boldly to the throne room!

Stay thirsty, my friend—thirsty for God—and you will find satisfaction in Him!