Are You Thirsty?

Over the summer I spent a month in the desert. Oh not a spiritual desert, mind you, a physical desert—and boy was it HOT. Less than 120 degrees was a cool day. Of course, being the adventurous type, I would valiantly march outside in spite of the heat to view the city, only to run back inside shortly after desperately longing for a cup of water.

If you haven’t been in a desert than imagine with me a bleak dry place scorching with heat, gasping for life that comes from water. Desperately crying out for water, according to Psalm 63, is the longing our souls are to have for Christ.

Psalms 63:1 says “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.”

Psalms 63 gives us three ways we can choose to increase our thirstiness for Christ.

• Seek: “earnestly I seek you” (v.1) When you are parched the need for water drives you to seek unendingly for it. Psalm 63 calls us to passionately seek for God to fill us. We seek after Christ by being constant in reading his word.
• Look: "I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory” (v.2) We increase our desire for God by choosing to look at him. Thirsting after Christ is a choice. Just like we choose what movie we watch or book we read we can choose to focus on Christ. Choosing to fight the battle of gazing at Christ results in a desire to continue beholding Him.  We look at Christ by looking at God’s revealed character in his word.
• Remember: “When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night” (v.6) Remember the past grace God has showed you in salvation or during a hard circumstances. Meditate specifically on the character God has showed you through circumstances, prayer and through his word, whether mercy, grace, faithfulness or love.

While in the dessert I found the longer I stood in the heat of the sun the thirstier I became. Nothing felt better than walking into an air-conditioned room to drink a cup of cold water. What’s interesting about Psalm 63 is that David was in the desert of Judah when he composed it. David knew how it felt to be physically in need of water and the wonderful satisfaction of being filled with it. David's physical need to be filled with water paralleled his spiritual need to be filled with Christ. David was desperately thirsty. 

The beautiful result of being thirsty for Christ by taking time to seek, look & remember Him is that you are filled with Christ! And as David shows us in Psalm 63, being filled with Christ produces an out-pouring of thanksgiving for Him “my lips will praise you” (v.3) “I will bless you” “in your name I will lift up my hands” (v.4) “I will sing for joy” (v7) “the king shall rejoice in God” (v.11)

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

• Are you thirsty for God?
• Do you find yourself overflowing with thanksgiving for Jesus?