Have you ever been thirsty? I am not talking about the need for a Gatorade after a workout. I am talking about being so thirsty that all you can think about is getting something wet on your tongue. We’ve all seen scenes from movies where a person was wondering across the desert, completely out of water, unable to go on because of their thirst. Sometimes that thirst will even play tricks on their minds as they see a mirage.
Thankfully, we as Americans don’t encounter this kind of thirst very often. The closest I have come was during football practice as a high school student. Two a day practices in August, 90 degree heat. There were times that all I could think about was getting to the cooler to get a drink of water.
There is a thirst that is more important that physical. God has placed inside of every person a desire to know God and experience the Living Water (see John 4). Yet, even those of us who know Christ experience dry times, when the refreshing water of knowing Christ becomes distant, and our soul thirsts for that relationship with Him. And sometimes, God allows the thirst to become so strong in our hearts that nothing else will satisfy, other than the connection with our Savior.
The Hebrew people came to a place where their thirst became overwhelming. They were following the cloud and fire God provided as their guide. But the Lord led them to a place without water. No spring, no river, no well, no brook! Nothing! Their thirst began to get the best of them. But even more obvious than their physical thirst, the Hebrew people demonstrated a spiritual thirst in the depths of their souls. Look at the evidence of this thirst.
(1)Their journey was in the wilderness of Sin.
(2)They relied on Moses to get all of their spiritual life.
(3)They responded by complaining when they didn’t have water, instead of trusting the Lord to provide.
(4)They asked to return to their old way of life.
Maybe you have been going through a time of spiritual drought, and deep in your soul you have a thirst for God that needs to be satisfied. Jesus Christ is the Living Water. He can satisfy the deepest thirst and do it eternally.