Thirst. We rarely experience it anymore because we go almost nowhere without toting our water bottles. Somewhere along the line we bought into the concept that water is the answer to almost everything healthy and we haven’t stopping drinking since.

I’m not saying that’s wrong — only that feeling really ‘thirsty’ is now a foreign concept. We satisfy our hydration up front so it never comes to that. Now switching to the spiritual level, could that be why we aren’t thirsty for God in America? We never let it come to that?

Psalm 42 starts off: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” To really appreciate water you have to feel its absence. But we have so much to fill up on besides God in our culture it diverts our attention from feeling really thirsty.

The Samaritan woman at the well understood how depleted she was when Jesus told her that He could supply her with “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). She said: “Sir, give me this water” (Verse 15). The bankruptcy of her own life pressed her to genuine thirst.

How thirsty are you? Are you keeping ahead of it or do you feel parched? If you have to admit that your thirst for God has waned here’s a simple prayer we all may need: Lord, lately I’ve been all filled up but not with you. I want to be like the deer panting for the water brooks. Please make my soul thirst for you alone. Amen.