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Oct 01, 2022 08:00am

The Difficulty of Thirsting for God

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As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3

Becoming a God-centered person is not easy, because it requires learning how to thirst for God. In a day like ours, when there are many other “thirst-quenchers” readily available, this is difficult. Many people can’t acquire thirst for God because of the plethora and availability of so many alternative things crowding in and crowding OUT God. The suburban life of prosperity and middle-class America is jam packed with attractions and distractions to keep us far too preoccupied to give God a serious chance. We hate to admit this, but there is often no time, or NO NEED to thirst for God when we already have enough without Him.

Imagine a deer, who had gone many times to her trusted stream, but now, panting for life, finds it totally dry. This is the heart for the Psalmist in the Scripture above who has matured past youthful thirsting for what earth had to offer. Note that the Psalms and other passages in Scripture never portray thirst as the problem; the problem is either our lack of thirst or our tendency to try to quench our thirst with the wrong things.

Our challenge is that we are often not like that deer. In fact, our own symbolism would be that there are woods full of many alternative, harmful streams nearby, so we quickly move from one stream to another. For us, the many options for “thirst-quenching” results in us leaving the stream of God’s life-giving water behind, failing to discover the thirst that leads to God, who gives the only water that satisfies.

You and I must learn how to cultivate a thirst by pushing away other false offers and attempts to satisfy. If we truly believe Jesus alone can satisfy, we must make space in our lives to turn away from other things and turn to Him. We must allow desperation and voluntarily turn away from these other desires and hopes, deliberately pushing them away from our heart. We can do this by getting alone with Him, reading His words, and having a quiet (or not so quiet!) conversation with God, pouring out our heart to him and confessing our need for Him. We must trust He is there with us, the resurrection proved it! As we sit in moments of solitude and push away other “options,” we’ll find Jesus helps us cultivate a thirst which, He promises, He alone can satisfy.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. John 7:37-38

Let us go to Him today, knowing our access was bought for us with his life, death, and resurrection. Let us approach our living God, beholding His face, and tasting life eternal. Amen!