SOUL THIRST

Psalm 42:1-6
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

Sometimes I treat my spiritual life just like my car, waiting long periods of time before I submit it to a diagnostic. Although there are many questions we can ask to help us determine the health of our soul, there is one question that is vital to soul health and soul growth: Is my soul thirsting more, or less, for the living God?

English Puritan Jonathan Edwards said, "Holy desire, exercised in longing, hungering, and thirsting after God and holiness, is often mentioned in Scripture as an important part of true religion."

I believe the psalmist expressed this desire better than anyone. The picture that David used in this song (Psalm 42) is one of intense desire and longing. Does his prayer describe your thirst for God? If so, be encouraged, for whatever is happening in your life, your soul thirst is a sign of health and growth. If not, could it be that it's time for you to submit your soul to a spiritual diagnostic?

Edwards maintained that this craving and desire was a thirst for God, a longing that can be thoroughly and finally satisfied only in the face-to-face enjoyment of the Lord Himself in heaven: "How good is God, that He has created man for this very end, to make him happy in the enjoyment of Himself, the Almighty."

Our problem is that sometimes we don't even desire to desire God. Then our souls become dry. Why is this? I think it's because we choose to drink too much from the unfulfilling fountains of the world and too little from the living springs of Christ.

How do we learn to thirst for God even more? One of the ways we create thirst for Him is to linger over the Bible. When I saturate my heart with Scripture, God through the Holy Spirit initiates a Godward desire. The Bible calls this meditation. This often overlooked spiritual discipline refreshes our heart with God's faithfulness and creates in our soul a thirst for the living God. --Marvin Williams

DESTINATION POINTS

* How would I describe my soul's condition right now? Empty? Dry? Satisfied, but longing for more?
* Are there any sins in my life that keep me from thirsting for the living God? If so, I will confess those to God now.
* How deeply am I soaking my soul in the living springs of the Word of God?

LINKS
Super-Spiritual or Dehydrated?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/moi/2002/004/aug/24.24.html

bottom line: The dry soul is satisfied by living water.

soul journey