Thirsting for God

Psalm 63:1 "O GOD, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Each day I wake, I make it a point that the first thing I do is read from the Bible.  I use a Bible app on my phone that sends a verse for each day.  This helps guide me to "earnestly" seek God.  I will take the verse and research putting it into context in regards to the chapter and book it came from.  I gain greater understanding and have a greater appreciation for the verse after I do this. Why? Because I spent my time with God and learned more about His desire for me and my desire for Him.

Today's verse is from Psalm 63.  The book of Psalms represents an ancient songbook of Israel. There are many writers who have contributed (God inspired) to the book. Psalms gives insight into Israelite worship and the aspects of Hebrew life. The book is divided into types of psalms such as:

·         hymns                                    -focus on individual or corporate praise of God

·         penitential psalms               -focus on confession and repentance

·          wisdom psalms                   -focus on general observation of life

·         royal psalms                         -focus on the King of Israel

·         messianic psalms                -focus on describing the Messiah

·          imprecatory psalms           -calls on God to judge the enemies of Israel

·         lament psalms                     -focus on one's condition, state of trust in God and                                                     ends in praise.

Arnold, B. and Beyer,B, Encountering the Old Testament, p.311

Have you ever wondered why you get thirsty? The human body is made of about 60% water.  Thirst develops when the cellular level of water is depleted  by heat generated by activity such as typing, talking, exercise, or  loss of fluid through breathing, defecating or urinating. If this depletion is not replenished, then your body becomes dehydrated.

There are different levels of dehydration, mild to severe.  You can die from dehydration due to the loss of function of your major organs. An average woman needs about 11 cups of water and the average man needs 15-16 cups of water a day. Just a loss of 2-3 percent of water weight can affect some functions of the body.(University of Rochester http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=604).

In the Bible, God describes His word as the "River of Life" and we are like trees planted along its banks, Revelation 22.  Christ spoke to the woman at the well in John 4:14 and tells her that whoever drinks of the water He gives, living water, will never thirst again and will become like a spring.  Jesus is describing how a relationship with Him provides sustained replenishment of our "spiritual" thirst so we will not become "spiritually" dehydrated and die. Why use "water" as a reference, because He knew the importance water plays to sustain human life. The need for us to seek Christ in scripture and in living is vital for our enduring the "heat" of life on earth and our ability to provide hope for those who do not know Christ.

What do you drink when you are thirsty?  Yes, many beverages can quench the dry mouth experienced with thirst, but only water, that of which we are dominantly made of, can replenish the cellular need during dehydration. The world offers us many alternatives to Christ. Only Christ will bring eternal life and quench your need for love, , joy, peace, and  significance.