Without water you can’t live. In fact, your physical body consists largely of water. And the supply of water in your body must be constantly replenished for you to thrive. Usually we rely on our sense of thirst to tell us when and how much water to drink. Sometimes, however, for various reasons, our sense of thirst may fail us. And when that happens individuals may become sick or even die from dehydration. At other times, people may thirst, but seek to satisfy their thirst with impure water that, either slowly or quickly, produces disease and death. Do you thirst for living water, pure, flowing, abundant and life-giving?
The Spirit of God is analogous to water. “On the last day of the Festival–the great day–Jesus stood up and cried aloud. ‘Whoever is thirsty,’ He said, ‘let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, from within him–as the Scripture has said–rivers of living water shall flow.’ He referred to the Spirit which those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not bestowed as yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39, Weymouth translation).
Note that on the last day of the Feast associated with the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2),
Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts” (NKJV). Israel thirsted in the wilderness for water. And God supplied their need, intervening miraculously to turn bitter waters into sweet, and
causing water to gush forth from barren rock (Exodus 15:23-26; 17:1-6). Though God mercifully supplied them with physical water to keep them alive, they couldn’t see beyond that to their need for the living water of God’s Spirit. They thirsted for water to fulfill their fleshly needs, but they did not thirst for God.
Chances are, you experience thirst everyday. Every time you think about a glass of cool water, you ought to think about how that illustrates your need for God’s Spirit. Think about the fact that as much as you need clear and pure life sustaining water, you need God even more, because the living water that he offers is the source not just of physical life, but of life for all eternity.
If one has the right relationship with God, he will thirst for him, for his righteousness, for his presence in one’s life. David had that kind of relationship with God (Psalm 63:1). David thirsted for God because he had developed a relationship with God. He studied the Scriptures, meditated on God’s law, and prayed to God daily. When in trouble, he went to God for refuge. When blessed, he gave God thanks. He walked with and talked with God. God was in his thoughts continually. And so he thirsted for God as in a dry and thirsty land, as in a spiritual wilderness, which he was.
We’re all in a spiritual wilderness. Whether we know it or not, we need God’s guidance, his
protection, his assurance, his comfort, his faith, his love, his hope and confidence, his
strength, his righteousness. We need his Spirit dwelling in us and the fellowship with him
that results. We need the life that only he can give us — eternal life, God life. God tells us that if we thirst, and if we come to Jesus Christ to be satisfied, he will give us freely of the water of life, abundantly, all that we need (Revelation 22:17).
We need to make sure that our sense of thirst, spiritually speaking, is well developed. Like David, we need to seek God. We need to put God first, making sure we study God’s word daily. Make sure you pray every morning. Pray at night and at other times during the day as well (Psalm 55:17). Take your concerns, your cares, your needs to God. Give God thanks; pray for the needs of others. Develop your relationship with God, and you’ll find that you begin to have the thirst for him that David had.
When the vast multitudes of Israel and all of mankind are resurrected at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-13), God is going to offer them the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). It’s what he’s offering to us, now. How thirsty are you for God, for his Spirit, for life? If you’re thirsty, you’ll be satisfied. If you’re not very thirsty, you need to work harder at seeking God, so you can take full advantage of the abundant life that he has to offer!
Unless otherwise noted Scripture taken from the New King James VersionTM
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2018 by Rod Reynolds
Messenger Church of God
PO Box 619
Wentzville, MO 63385
USA
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