The ONLY DRINK that will REALLY SATISFY

 

June 12 Bible Reading: Psalms Chapters 38-44

The ONLY DRINK that will REALLY SATISFY

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalms 42:1-2)

Psalm 42 is a contemplation of the sons of Korah along with several other psalms (44–49). Korah was the great-grandson of Levi who had rebelled against the leadership of the High Priest Aaron (Num. 16:1–2). However, his own sons did not participate in the evil deeds along with their father and others, and ended up as leaders in Israel’s worship (1 Chron. 6:32–38).

This psalm is the cry of a person detached from the worship of God in Jerusalem and is now sighing for the house of God. This portrays an intense longing for God and his desire to worship God with others in the temple (Ps. 42:4). This is also the voice of a spiritual believer under depression who is longing for the renewal of the divine presence while struggling with doubts and fears but yet holding on to the faith in the living God.

The psalmist’s “thirst” for God must be seen not only in the comparison he made (“as the deer pants after streams of water”), but also against the background of the desert where he was currently. To him, fresh water to drink was not just a refreshing luxury–it was tantamount to staying alive itself! For the psalmist, his thirst for God’s presence was comparable to the thirst of a deer dehydrated and craving for a drink of water.

Do we have a similar thirst for God as well? Or, are we satisfied with what the world is offering us so far as substitute ‘artificial’ drinks?

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman by the well in Sychar, this is what he told her: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13-14) The water that Jesus was referring to was the Holy Spirit that He poured on the believers on the Day of Pentecost. The evidence for that is found in John 7:37-39: On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Let us understand that God alone can only satisfy our real thirst. Let us respond to God’s invitation: "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…" (Isaiah 55:1). For God alone can satisfy our inward longing: "For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness." (Psalms 107:9)