Are You Thirsty?

He leads me beside still waters.

Psalm 23:3

Thirst. Have you felt it? The dry, cotton mouth feeling that drives everybody toward a cold cup of water. Not long ago, the pastor and I took a long walk in the West Texas summer dry heat. Midway through our walk, my mouth longed for cool, refreshing water… and that was after just forty-five minutes! God created us to feel thirst, the longing that drives us to hydrate our body. Thirst signals us of our need for physical nourishment.

Thirsty sheep will drink anything. So will humans.

This truth applies to both the body and soul. God created us to feel soul thirst, that feeling of restlessness, the awareness that something is missing. Soul thirst signals us of our need for the living water. But too often, we seek to quench our thirst with unclean, harmful waters. Or, we risk quenching our thirst in fast moving, overwhelming waters.

Sheep sink in fast moving waters. So do humans.

The woman at the well understood thirst. She had partaken of the unclean, fast moving waters. Shame drove her to the well in the dry heat of mid-day. Have you ever partaken of the unclean, fast moving waters? I have… and it often happens when I least expect the fall. And yet, Jesus saw her. He understood her. He loved her. And He provided for her thirsty soul… He provided the clean water… He provided the peaceful water… He provided the living water.

He offers the same for us.

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.

John 3:13-14

The Good Shepherd always provides for His sheep. He leads us beside still waters. He invites us to feed off the morning’s dew drenched grass – His Word. He meets us in our need. He sees us. He understands us. He leads us to the true and living water. He draws us to Himself.

Come, drink of the living water.

Come, sing praises to His name for He is good!

“‘Holy, Holy, Holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ This is what reverberates and moves me deep, the song of the wounded and washed: Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Ann Voskamp

One Thousand Gifts Devotional