Last Sunday I was looking out the window and
watching it rain. I could also hear it hitting the side of the house.
There was a water spout on the house across the way that had water
flowing out of it at a pace that if I were to turn on the garden
house it would flow with the same vigor. I was not watching a gentle
rain, but a rain that is pouring on. In addition, this rain had been
raining all night and it is a cold bitter rain.
The bitter, wet cold made it a little more of a
nuisance to get into church that morning, but no more than a
nuisance. I know that the earth needs the rain and the ground has a
need to absorb the water so that the water table will be replenished
for the Spring and Summer water needs. In fact, as I watched the rain,
I could see the ground and the grass and our evergreen trees soaked,
but not in a way that is bad. The soaking is more like that of a bath
and the natural surrounding were taking it all in.
These events cause me to reflect on Bradley Holt's
book, “Thirsty for God.” Holt refers to how our lack of fluid
brings great calamity to the world around us. Our physical bodies
need water. We need it to rain in our physical flesh in order for us
to function. Our bodies need water. Being hydrated is essential for
so many functions such as energy, healing, immunity, electrolytes,
and reproduction.
God has created our physical bodies to thirst for water as a means to
survive. The interesting and note worthy aspect if this vital need is
that when we become dehydrated the signals are not immediate or
strong.
The same dehydrated facts are true of our spiritual selves as well.
I am a person that has always struggled to keep that
weight off. Some would say that it is genetic. I would agree that I
am not the only one that struggles with keeping the weight down in my
family. Holt talks about how his solution for many things is to eat. In
our family, that was often the case. If it is a problem, lets get
something to eat and talk about it. Another thing that food was used
for in our family is that food and eating was a reward. If it was
your birthday or you received a well earned high grade in school or
any major achievement, the event was celebrated with food. Holt
points out that our hunger is not truly about food, but about a lack
of fluids. Most of our hunger pains can be put to sleep with a good
glass of water.
Holt moves forward with these two ideas and talks about
how “the basic premise of any spirituality is that our non physical
selves also thirst.”
From the beginning of creation, mankind has tried to fill the need
for this thirst for God. The modern soul thirsty heart is reminded of
Adam and Eve. They were physically hungry, yet they allow the tempter
to take the basic thirst and hunger to a spiritual level while
encouraging them to eat of the forbidden fruit. Another ancient story
of thirst is that of Cain and Able. Cain kills his brother for the
basic thirst to have God's approval. I am reminded of David and as he
is looking out of the palace he sees Bathsheba and his physical flesh
thirsts for her physically and he acts on it. David's rebellion is
truly a thirst for power and control verse his spiritual submission
to God. David had a number of beautiful wives, what David was
thirsting for was his desire to control and posses anyone or
anything. The story of time is filled with men and women that are
thirsty for God and choose to fill that thirst with sin. My story is
not any different.
The story is also filled with men and women that have
chosen to drink of life from the living water of God. In John 4, it
is recorded that Jesus is standing at the well and a woman comes up.
It is the middle of the day and all the other village women were not
around. The text implies she came at that hour because she was an
undesirable and the women of noble character would not have
associated with her. She lives a sinful life and she is also a
Samaritan. Jesus was a Jew and he was a leader of a Jewish religious
practice. The culture of the time dictated that Jesus would not have
talked with her or even noticed she was around. In contrast to the
culture, Jesus talks to her and asks for a drink. The woman is
shocked and she questions Jesus' actions.
The conversation reveals that she is thirsty. The woman
has tried to fulfill her thirst for God with men and sinful living.
Jesus reveals to her that if she was to drink from his water, she
would never thirst again. The woman asks for this water and Jesus
grants it to her while revealing some eternal truth of God. God is
seeking worshipers that are willing to worship in spirit and truth.
The fulfillment of her thirst causes her to celebrate and then she
goes out telling everyone she knows of the events that took place by
the well. Her thirst for God is met and she experiences the love of
God that transforms lives so that she is highly motivated to share it
with others.
I can relate to these recorded events in the lives of people such
as Adam, David and the woman because I also thirst for God. I can
feel the thirst that calls for a relationship with God. Therefore, it
is comforting to read Holts words, “discovering a path through the
universe by living in relationship with a revealing God who surprises
that traveler with loving gifts.”
The amazing piece to this spiritual journey is that “the gospel of
Jesus is contained in the truly clay pots of his human followers.”
Thus, the created person desiring to have a relationship with the
creator God can commit to developing the spiritual disciplines and
maturity.
It is mid-January in Indiana and the ground is still
frozen and the rain water I mentioned earlier doesn't soak in too
deep. I witnessed that ponds, the creeks, and the rivers that are at
their fullest because the frozen earth will not allow for the rain
water to soak in too deep. I think of the times that my inner and deepest parts are frozen
in personal desire and sin. It is my frozen heart that keeps me from
developing into a person that is truly hydrated by the water offered
by the living God. I am encouraged that my spiritual thirst will continue to thrive and be met on
God's provision while melting that frozen nature deep within. I seek to
have God's love and spirit poured into me so that I might be a person
that pours out love, service, and sacrifice on others much like that
water spout pouring forth water from a hard rain.
You know I love ya, Don
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment