“As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, so my soul pants [longingly] for You, O God. My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?” (Psalm 42:1-2 AMP)
There were times as children when we were walking home from playing baseball at a local park and we were as thirsty as could be. The park had a water fountain, one of the old-time types where you had to use a pump to get the water to come out of the faucet. When it did come out, sometimes all the pumping would only bring forth what I would call a disappointing dripping. Even before all the environmental concerns and safety protocols, we knew sipping the slow drips of water was hazardous. So instead of putting our lips all over the fountain, we moved on, thirsting for water. Occasionally, and I admit it was not right, we would cut through a person’s yard, a complete stranger’s yard and we would turn on their outside water tap on the side of the house. If they had a hose attached, all the better for us. We had no glasses, no plastic pop bottles (not invented yet), nor not one jar, so in most cases when there was no hose, we would cup our hands together tightly as not to lose one drop of water. We were experiencing thirsty times and that is how we satisfied our thirst. I would not suggest that delinquent, better defined as a criminal solution today. You could end up in serious trouble. I don’t know what was driving us to do what we did except for the fact that were very, very thirsty. We were as thirsty for water as Goldilocks was for soup! We needed water to sustain us; had to have it! But we chose the wrong way to satisfy our thirst.
Many times our lives hit a dry spell of one type or the other. We thirst. We experience thirsty times. And we seek to satisfy that thirst often by trying to find what we need in sources and stay away from places where we ought not seek to end our thirsty times. We seek to satisfy our thirst and refresh our lives by venturing into places that we should not venture, much like we would enter a person’s yard to take water that did not belong to us. When we experience dry times, we look for pleasures from places we should not venture into as voraciously declared, victorious believers. Watch out for thirsty times. We grasp at the first thing we think that will satisfy our thirst, even thought in reality, it will only be a temporary satisfaction that will be followed by guilt, great remorse, and God knows, a need for gracious forgiveness. We go along with “the gang,” not “gang” in a bad sense always, but more like we did as Little Rascal type kids. You know what I mean. We got innovative and inventive, but we ignored the principles taught to us in Sunday School classrooms. The same thing happens today. The only difference is that most of us our Big Rascals or Old Rascals now. We know better but to satisfy our thirst we are led by peers, lost in our lusts, and our beings are latched on by the influence of a roaring lion that seeks to destroy us. Yes, we thirst, but the be careful when you do. Be like the Psalmist above and thirst for the God. Be as focused as the deer that longs for the brooks of water. The water would satisfy and sustain the deer. As for us. You should know from your experiences by now, only the Lord can really satisfy your thirst in a righteous way; revive you, renew you, and reinvigorate your spirit. So in the dry spells of life, whatever they may be, thirst for God. Talk it out like the Psalmist did in the verse below. Have a better day now. Realize that God will supply all your needs in Christ Jesus. Be blessed!
“Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.” (Psalm 42:5 MSG)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King