On a hot August day in Cairo, at home with my daughters...
Me: Leila, Can you please make sure you drink enough water. It is almost 45 degrees! staying hydrated is VERY important.
Leila: Thanks Pa, but I don't feel thirsty nor want to drink water now..
Me: You have to..It is extremely hot here...you sweat, lose water and need to replenish all that!
Leila: It is not hot at all around here..In fact I even feel cold!
Me: Leila, Can you please make sure you drink enough water. It is almost 45 degrees! staying hydrated is VERY important.
Leila: Thanks Pa, but I don't feel thirsty nor want to drink water now..
Me: You have to..It is extremely hot here...you sweat, lose water and need to replenish all that!
Leila: It is not hot at all around here..In fact I even feel cold!
She was right, we were having this conversation standing in a freezing air-conditioned room set at 17 degrees!! Who would think about water when you are feeling cold? But if I went out on the streets, with a cold bottle of water..I m sure any of these workers spending their days in the sun would fight for it. When you are hot, sweating and thirsty, you cant help but think of WATER...and only water!
I then realized that Thirst is primarily driven by "the need to get more of what you give away"! If you feel hot, your body sweats heavily to cool you down and then you do feel dehydrated and thirst starts hunting you. If you do not face the heat, your body will feel comfortable...water is retained...no need for water! The thirstier you are, the more you will seek water...and the more satisfying it will be! You probably think of this "Aaahh" you instinctively say after your first Sip!
Thirst, a word spread all over the bible, from old to new testament...from thirsty people crossing the desert to a Samaritan lady seeking water on a hot midday.
I specially love the verses in Psalms 63:1
“O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
and in Psalm 42: 1-2
“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God. My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?”
I specially love the verses in Psalms 63:1
“O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
and in Psalm 42: 1-2
“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, So my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God. My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?”
David wanted more of God...as He was giving more of God! The more God centered his life was, the more he desired him. He knew that Dry places pushed him to seek God to encourage him and his companions. HIs thirst drove him to write, through the Holy Spirit, one of the most beautiful poetic pieces in the love of God: The Psalms!
Now, it is our turn to examine our lives. Do we need to get more of what we give away? DO we seek God and feel Thirsty for His presence in our days? Or we just feel that this is not our duty... eventually never feeling the thirst? Are we too comfortable in our air-conditioned spiritual status?
Let me quote Jon Bloom from his article about Spiritual Thirst:"But David didn’t always feel this way. When he was at the height of his success, when he was wealthy, sated, and secure in his reign, his soul lost its desperate thirst for God. And what happened? Bathsheba became an enticing and intoxicating soul-beverage. He did something in his prosperity he never would have done while wandering the weary, waterless wilderness: he drank from the broken cistern of sexual immorality."
I want this Thirst...Thirst for the Source of Living Water!
God, Make me Thirsty again!
God, Make me Thirsty again!
Keep shining my friends
