PSALM 63:1 – O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
THEME OF THE DAY: A THIRST FOR GOD. Donald Whitney wrote a wonderful book titled Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. It is 131 pages long, published by NAVPRESS, and an excellent tool for spiritual self-examination. The first question for diagnosing one’s spiritual condition is “Do You Thirst for God?” Whitney opens up with this personal story . . .
“Lord, I want to know you more”, sang the soloist, just before the sermon. One of my seminary professors from years back, who was a guest preacher at our church that Sunday morning, sat next to me on the front pew, transfixed. As the soloist continued, I could hear my older friend sigh occasionally. When the song was over, T.W. sat motionless for so long that I thought he had forgotten he was now supposed to preach. As I turned to remind him, I saw his shoulders lift and fall with the slow draw and release of his breath. Finally, he opened his eyes and stepped thoughtfully to the pulpit. He looked down for what seemed to be a full minute before he could speak. And then he said, “Lord, I do want to know you more.” Departing from his prepared words for a while, he spoke of his thirst for God, his longings to know Christ more intimately, to obey Him more completely. Here was a man who had followed Christ for more than fifty years and was still captivated by the sweetness of the quest. In his second half-century as a disciple of Jesus, the grace of growth still flourished in him.”
Sit back and look at our hearts. Would we be able to say with complete honesty and transparency, because our lives reflect our words, the same longing the aged preacher had? It was also the longing of the aged Apostle Paul – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:10). It is the first sign of a healthy Christian to have the same intense thirst for God like David and Paul. Where this thirst is absent, a backslidden life is present. The things of God become dull. Prayer, the Bible, and church attendance are willfully neglected with no remorse. But there is something else about a healthy thirst for God. We are satisfied yet thirst for more. The more we taste of the One who gives us living waters, the more we want. This truth is captured well by a prayer from A. W. Tozer . . .
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made thirsty still.
PRAYER: “Father, deepen my thirst for You – Your fellowship in this life and to live with You forever in the next.”
QUOTE: “A thirst for God is a sign of spiritual life and health. Where this thirst is absent, spiritual backsliding is present.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim