QUIET WA QUENCHING YOUR THIRST

WRITER: RICK REED

Quiet waters don’t need to be silent. I am talking about a stream, one stream in particular — a mountain stream, a babbling brook, where water softly cascaded over rocks and around small boulders on its meandering journey.

This particular stream was in the Appalachian Mountains somewhere in New York. I can still see it in my mind’s eye and hear that wondrous sound of running water. Why is it so vivid? Have you ever been thirsty — really thirsty? My time took place during a fifty-mile hike with the Boy Scouts. It was Easter vacation and the weather couldn’t have been any better. Warm and sunny days; crisp and cool evenings.

Did I mention I wasn’t a very good Boy Scout. Though I was in scouting for five years, I only advanced to First Class and only earned one merit badge. I also didn’t practice the Scout motto: “Be prepared.” I didn’t pack a canteen for the six-day hike. The guys were great about sharing water the first day. But as the hike wore on and the guys wore out, so did their goodwill — and my water supply. I tried hauling water in different items, but nothing worked.

One day was very demanding, and I needed liquid sustenance badly. I found it in the form of a mountain stream. I’m sure you’ve seen it. That stream looked like one of those streams you’d see on a postcard or in a movie. The water was clear, and as the stream flowed, it made the most delightful sound. It wasn’t long before I had my face submerged in that cool water and was totally replenished. It was the most delicious water I ever tasted. Like the deer in Psalm 42: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

David also described his desire to be with God as thirsting in Psalm 63 when he wrote: “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Their desire to be with God was stronger than my desire to find water during my hike. It makes me wonder why I’m not more driven to spend time with God. I have my daily devotion time but sometimes it’s more out of habit than desire. Those times are also important to God. But I’m the one who is missing out by not truly seeking God with a thirst that comes from the soul.

I think Jesus explained how that happens in John 4, where he asked the Samaritan woman for some water. She said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” Jews didn’t associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

There’s something special about the living water. That refreshing drink I had from that bubbling mountain brook didn’t last me very long. I soon craved more. But living water can totally satisfy — if I let it.

Jesus said to the woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Drink deeply — and often. And it’s okay to slurp.