What do you consider the best thirst quencher? Growing up, Gatorade’s slogan was “The thirst quencher!” I believed it too. I bought it all the time. When you’re thirsty, what do you go for? God created water to quench our thirst. Somewhere along the way, we invented other drinks to quench the thirst in ourselves. In a similar way, our soul gets thirsty. God’s design was that we would spend time with Him to quench it. Just like with our physical thirst, we began looking for other means to quench it. We drink from the wells of relationships, achievements, busyness, comfort and entertainment to try to quench it, but find ourselves still thirsty and unsatisfied.
In John 4, Jesus was tired and sat down next to a well to rest while the disciples ran into town for food. A lady came out around noon to draw water. Jesus asked her for a drink, but she was surprised that He asked since it was uncustomary for a Jew to speak with a Samaritan. Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water” (NLT). He went on to tell her to call her husband, but she was living with someone and had been married five times before. She had been drinking from the well of relationships to quench her soul’s thirst and Jesus was offering her living water instead. When they were through talking, she ran back to town telling everyone to come and see the Messiah. For the first time, that longing and unrest inside of her was satisfied.
Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” The psalmist understood their soul’s thirst and the only thing that can satisfy it. In Jeremiah 2:13 God said, “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” What have you found yourself doing to quench that deep thirst of your soul? Have you been going to the cracked cisterns of relationships, achievements, busyness, comfort or entertainment? Only standing in the presence of God will truly quench it. Stand before Him in worship, prayer and adoration and your soul’s thirst will be quenched.
Image by Google Gemini
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 