In the Desert… Long for God
As David walks along in the desert, he says this in Psalm 63:1: “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” He was longing for something to soothe his dry throat. Spiritual deserts create great spiritual thirst in us, a need in our hearts that hasn't been quenched.
Understanding Our Soul's True Thirst
I think God often allows us time in the desert so that we realise that we are really thirsty for Him. In the desert we start to realise: I can drink in success, and I'm still thirsty. I can fill up on entertainment, and I am still not satisfied. I can love my family, but they don't fulfil me.
There must be something more. I'm still thirsty.
As it turns out, the world is a dry and parched land without much water. It promises to satisfy your thirst! But the more you live in this place, the more you realise "I'm thirsty still."
CS Lewis spoke about how most of us are content to make mudpies in a slum, because we don't know what it's like to enjoy a holiday at the sea! We're too content to drink tepid, dirty substances from the world, because we've never tasted living water.
Finding Satisfaction in Jesus Alone
Remember how Jesus met the woman at the well in John 4? It's a wonderful encounter. They have a very insightful conversation, and at one point Jesus asks her for a drink of water. She is very confused that a Jewish man would ask a Samaritan woman for a drink, and then Jesus says to her "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.... Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The water that Jesus gives to your soul quenches your spiritual thirst like nothing else. When you throw yourself on Jesus, live your life for Jesus, drink in His grace and His love and His power with all you have, then even in the desert you find yourself satisfied!
In fact David addresses this later in the Psalm, although he changes the metaphor from water to food: "I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods" he says.
Don't stuff your soul with the empty, unsatisfying food and drink of the world. Fill up on Jesus.
Find satisfaction even as you walk a desert road, by quenching your hunger and thirst on Him.
