Thirst

A strong or eager desire; craving.

This craving and desire is the very essence of thirst in the spiritual sense - to not only want or seek, but to literally need and require nourishment for the soul.

The New Testament is rife with references to spiritual thirst:

Matt 5:6 - "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness."

John 4:14 - "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."

John 6:35 - "He that believeth in me shall never thirst."

John 7:37 - "If any man thirst let him come unto me, and drink."

But I particularly love this verse in Psalms 63:1

"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek the: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."

I can drink a lot of water. When I lived in Italy during the hottest months, I would regularly consume more than 8 litres of water a day. Not the recommend 8 glasses (64 oz). Eight litres. And still, it never seemed enough.

And as a missionary, that was also a time of great spiritual nourishment and I daily consumed a whopping lot of {spiritual} water. And still, it never seemed enough.

And yet, though I know I can consume a great deal, though I know my soul thirsts daily, I seem to push myself to the very edge of spiritual dehydration. I find my tongue swollen and parched. My prayers are stilted and dry, not the rich, nourishing communications I know I long for. My limbs lose strength, my muscles cramp and I find it hard to find the positive, to be grateful for blessings and the see the Lord's hand in my life when the pounding aches of daily life press so insistently.

Have you seen a parched plant react to a good watering? Even the smallest dribble gives life to the soul. Thank heavens for church on Sunday. But this is not enough; it'll never be enough. The promise is to come, drink and never thirst. Did you know that by the time you feel thirsty you're already dehydrated? The never thirst part requires constant drinking, imbibing, guzzling, gulping, absorbing and soaking up. Constant.