142: How To Satisfy Your Spiritual Thirst

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were blessed to take our first trip to Israel with a group from our church. It was a life changing trip to see the Bible come to life. One day we drove to the Dead Sea and as our bus traveled the road through the dry, arid Judean Wilderness, I thought of a verse in Psalm 63 where David said, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”

I had read this verse many times before, but seeing this desert wilderness, I could imagine what David was talking about. As he looked out at the dry land and could see no water, he thought about his desire for God. He said, “my soul thirsts for you.”

David was talking about a spiritual thirst and everyone of us has one. Have you ever been truly thirsty? I mean really thirsty? I remember drinking out of the water hose as a kid on a hot summer day in Texas.

We don’t know much about serious thirst.  When you don’t have proper fluids you become dehydrated.  It gets serious fast.  Dehydration begins to set in when you have lost only 2% of your fluids.  If you are not hydrated quickly as long list of medical conditions begin to happen: headaches, decreased blood pressure, dizziness, blurred vision, fainting, you become delirious, rapid heart rate, unconsciousness, and eventually death.  All that is prevented by something so simple…water.

Jesus said in John 7:37-38 - ““Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

What does it mean to drink of Jesus?  He answers this question in verse 38 (whoever believes in me).  What Jesus means by drinking is the same thing he means by believing or trusting.  In (John 6:35) Jesus says, “He who believes in me will never thirst.”  

Inside all of us there is a thirst that nothing in this world can satisfy.  There is a thirst within us that only God can fill.  Some people thirst for sexual fulfillment and they hop from one relationship to another.  Some people think career advancement is the key to happiness, so they move from job to job.  There are so many things that people search for thinking it will satisfy. 

I made the most important decision of my life at age 18.  I decided I was going to truly become a follower of Jesus.  I was raised in church…I knew it all.  I could easily pretend.  I look back at myself during my teenage years.  I was so thirsty…thirsty for success, affirmation, and acceptance.  I remember thinking…”if I could just be great at something!”

But I discovered that Jesus could offer me something that nothing or no one else could offer.  He could quench my thirst.  He offered me a relationship.  He offered me purpose for my life.  As I began to sincerely follow him, my life was filled with contentment.  I realized that Jesus could satisfy the hunger, the thirst, the longing that I had inside.

Hear this truth: Only Jesus can satisfy this thirst.

No one can force you to come to Christ but you need to know that He’s been offering to quench your thirst your whole life. 

Will you receive it? Water only works if you drink it and the Savior won’t save you from your sins unless ask him to.  I know this to be true: You won’t be satisfied until the Savior washes your sins away.

Today’s Challenge: If there is an emptiness inside of you, if there is a thirst that cannot be satisfied, you need to know there a a way for this thirst to be satisfied. Nothing on earth can meet this need for you. You have to drink of the water Jesus provides and you do this by placing your faith in him as savior and Lord.