Fuel for the Weekend: I Thirst

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out. ~Isaiah 48:21 (NIV)

I thirst.

I don’t know if the words shook me awake a couple weeks ago or if they waited on my headboard to pierce my brain at the first sign of activity.

They seared themselves to my mind.

They’ve smoldered there ever since.

I thirst.

I pull a stemmed glass from the cupboard, scoop in some ice, and fill with water.

I stroke the elevated imprints of the vines that encircle it.

I drink deep.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
~Psalm 42:1 (NIV)

Do you know that thirst is a sign your body is already dry?

We need to drink throughout the day.

I thirst.

The nurse couldn’t get a blood pressure reading.

A new thing.

“You must be a little dehydrated,” she said.

Not surprised since I’d just slogged through week of deep stress and had not been able to eat.

I forced myself to drink a little.

Because I knew I had to.

Whether I thirsted or not.

Jesus answered, “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.”
~John 4:13-14 (NIV)

I thirst.

He agonized in the garden.

He sweat great bubbles of blood.

And rose, resolute in purpose, to pour Himself out for the thirsty.

Life fluids spilled from dehydrated body.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet. ~Psalm 22:14-16

I thirst.

The source of living water Himself suffered dehydration of body and spirit.

The flow between Him and the Father stopped.

And He writhed with that anguish.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng. ~Psalm 42:1-4

I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?” ~Psalm 4:9-10

I thirst.

Darkness enveloped Him.

And.

He.

Died.

Thirsty.

The temple curtain ripped. Rocks split. Tombs shattered.

And when the soldiers saw He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

But one of them thrust his spear into the Rock, and blood and water gushed all over him.

A flood of love.

And because He tasted thirst, because His soul shuddered in separation, because He plummeted the depths of darkness, we don’t have to.

It’s Friday.

And it’s all good.

And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ~Revelation 21:6 (NLT)