Thirsting for God

Our lesson tonight is about thirst. Normally we think of being thirsty as a bad thing right? It means we’re in need of something (water) that unless we receive it we will die. And Dying is bad.

Catie and I were hiking badger mountain with Abram, our 2 year old a few weeks ago and we forgot to bring water. We were taking turns holding Abram since he is too small to hike the whole way, again, he’s 2, and by the time we got to the top we were hot, dehydrated, and ready to head back down and drink the nasty hot water that we left in the car. No one wanted to drink the water, but we knew that we probably needed it to get home without feeling like we would pass out. We got home fine by the way.

But, that doesn’t mean it was a bad thing that we were thirsty was it?

Would someone open their bibles and read Psalm 42:1-2?

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

As a deer pants for flowing streams, 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?

That “panting for flowing streams” is a longing or a desire for flowing streams. The psalmist’s thirst is his longing or desire for satisfaction which is found in the “living God.”

Being Thirsty

Being thirsty is a normal healthy thing. It means that we have the ability to see what we need something to live or be satisfied. The struggle for people is to know how to be thirsty well.

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

I want to take a look at three different types of people who thirst tonight: the thirst of the empty soul, the thirst of the dry soul, and the thirst of the satisfied soul. As we are looking at these types of people I want you to ask yourself, “Do I thirst for God?” and, “How do I thirst for God?”

Let’s first take a look at the Thirst of an Empty Soul...

Thirst of the Empty Soul

This is the soul of someone who has never known God or His goodness. He does not seek after God, and he has only what is in front of him to find his satisfaction for his soul’s thirst. All of us, regardless of when we were saved have had this kind of thirst. God did not make us content in our natural sinful condition. We are not born into this world aligned right with God. Ephesians 2:3 reads,

Ephesians 2:3 ESV

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

That “carrying out the desires of the body and the mind” is when we attempt to find our satisfaction, or our identity, in the things around us. Everything from “money, sex, power, houses, land, sports, hobbies, entertainment, transcendence, significance, education,” identity and anything else that we latch on we turn to for our satisfaction because we do not know what the thirst, the desire of our hearts really means.

Sometimes people are more serious in their quest for quenching their soul’s thirst. They seek out religion, meditation, psychology or philosophy to find satisfaction in their thirst. It can make the believer think that this person is searching for God, but the truth is that:

Romans 3:11 ESV

no one understands; no one seeks for God.

We think it is a craving that can be satisfied by these things, but only Jesus Christ can satisfy our souls. We read in John 4:14:

John 4:14 ESV

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The irony for the unbeliever is that while he remains perpetually unsatisfied in many areas of his life, he is satisfied in his pursuit of God, while never being able to know Him. This is the same attitude of the parable of the rich man in Luke 12:19 “And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’” This is a tragedy. The man is complacent in his pursuit of God because his thirst is lacking.

In the same way, the Empty Soul does not thirst properly for God and that improper thirst is taken with him to the grave.

An Appeal (Maybe move to the end)

That’s some heavy stuff. I’ll stop right there and say that if you think this is where you are, please come talk with me or any leader in this room. You do not have to wander through that kind of thirst alone.We really are here for you and more importantly God is

The Christian knows that Jesus satisfies. But even the Christian struggles with maintaining a thirst for God. This brings us to our second type of thirst, The Thirst of the Dry Soul.

The Thirst of the Dry Soul

This is the person who is a Christian. They are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and therefore cannot lose their salvation.

John 10:28–29 ESV

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

So, how is it that Christians end up having dry spells in their relationship with God? What do you guys think?

Let’s look at John 4:14 again:

John 4:14 ESV

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

There are about 3 ways that our soul dries up:

How the Soul Dries Up

Taking in too much of the world and less of God

Have you ever noticed that drinking some things actually makes you thirstier? Or even sick? Alcohol is an obvious example of this. How about salt water though? Have you guys ever had salt water?

You would think that any kind of water would quench your thirst but absolutely not that. So as your body drinks salt water, it moves water to and from your red blood cells. As you have more salt, water moves to the blood cells leaving the other cells parched and as you have less salt, it moves from the red blood cells to the other cells. It’s a balanced system. Your kidneys actually send signals to your brain when you have too much salt in your diet to make you thirsty enough to drink water and balance the system. Make sense?

With salt water, our kidneys have to pull water from the other cells in our body, which makes us even thirstier. There’s too much sodium in our bodies and no way to flush it out. As a result we get sick from dehydration. Sodium is good! Too much is bad...

The same is with what we take in from the world. Too much attention given to the world only makes you sick. We take it in, but we can’t quench our thirst because it’s just salt water.

We sense God’s Absence

Do you ever feel like God’s just “not there?” While God never leaves us or forsakes us Hebrews 13:5 we can sometimes perceive that God is distant from us.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Even the psalmist recognizes this:

Psalm 143:6–7 ESV

6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah 7 Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.

Even Jesus experiences this at the cross.

Matthew 27:46 ESV

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This doesn’t mean that God has left us. Sometimes God withdraws from us to enable us to trust in Him. “When the sun goes behind a cloud, it is no less near than when its rays are felt”

Physical and Mental Fatigue

What is a time that you have been so weary that you actually thought you were going to lose your sanity?

We are made as one complete, whole being. Our body and our soul aren’t separate, but they are dependent on one another. If the body dies, so does the soul. We don’t live outside of a body!

It’s good to be reminded then that when we are physically sick or mentally anguished we can brood and get frustrated. We need to care for our body, mind, and soul. We need rest and rejuvenation.

The Satisfied Soul

This is our last type of thirst. The person who thirsts for God because he is satisfied and wants more satisfaction!

So John Piper is a pastor who has written some pretty great things for the church and he was thinking about his church and how thirsty for God it was. He was asking “O Jesus, what did you mean?” regarding thirst in John 4:14.

Here is what he wrote about thirst from God’s perspective:

When you drink my water, your thirst is not destroyed forever. If it did that, would you feel any need of my water afterward? That is not my goal. I do not want self-sufficient saints. When you drink my water, it makes a spring in you. A spring satisfied thirst, not by removing the need you have for water, but by being there to give you water whenever you get thirsty. Again and again and again.

Just like this evening. We should desire to drink water that satisfies and that water is readily available for the Christian always. Psalm 34:8.

Psalm 34:8 ESV

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-10.

Why don’t one of you read that for us

Philippians 3:7–10 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Nothing but knowing Jesus can satisfy our thirst and draw us back to drink continually in satisfaction. This is the mark of a growing saint.

Final Thoughts on Thirst

Our spiritual thirst is initiated by God. The Holy Spirit indwells us and calls us to thirst for God.

Our spiritual thirst isn’t to frustrate us, but to satisfy us. He does not urge us to seek Him without intending us to find Him. He alone wants to satisfy our soul.

We are designed for joy and happiness in God. When our satisfaction is found in Him, our joy will increase.

Practical Stuff

I want to offer some practical suggestions that I think are powerful and can help assist you wherever you are in your spiritual thirst.

Meditate on the Bible

Sometimes we think that reading the bible is all we have to do. Do you ever struggle reading it without it becoming a chore? Like, “how am I supposed to get something out of this?” If you don’t remember what you just read you won’t be satisfied by it. Reading the bible is important and good, but there’s a way of reading the bible that can really help. It’s called bible meditation.

I’m not talking about the weird new-age stuff that’s spiritual gobbeldygook. I’m talking about not just getting information out of the bible and into your brain, but also letting your heart be changed by it. A thirst change if you will.

This can also push back against information that we are constantly bombarded with. Do you ever get that sense of informational overload and when you get to your bible you’re like, “no. I’m not getting anything out of this today.”?

My encouragement is to read the bible in big chunks, like 1-3 chapters at a time and then meditate on little chunks like a verse, a phrase, or a word. Do some quick study, and then sit with what you’ve discovered. Meditate on what is resonating with you as you read God’s Word.

2. Pray the Bible

Do you guys ever feel like you say the same ‘ol prayers with the same time and the same needs? Do you ever pray to God thanking Him for who He is? I want to give you a way of praying through the bible to help shape your prayer life.

Why don’t you turn with me in your bibles to psalm 63. Also, you guys should bring your bibles every week. I know that bibles are on phones and tablets and whatever, but having a book that you can write in, or make notes in during our times together will help develop your spiritual thirst sooo much.

Let’s look at the text and pray this psalm together:

Psalm 63 ESV

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; 10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.