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Psalms 42:1-5 We Must Capture That Type of Spiritual Thirst!

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Psalms 42:1-5 We Must Capture That Type of Spiritual Thirst! Psalms 42:1-5 We must capture that type of spiritual thirst! We must thirst and long for God and for spiritual living! THIS MORNING, WE WILL TRY TO GAIN SOME INSIGHT INTO SPIRUTUAL THIRST…SPIRITUAL LIVING BY EXAMINING JESUS’ STATEMENT IN (JOHN 7:37). On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Americans are a people who love to celebrate holidays. I do not think anyone would argue that the three major holidays we celebrate throughout the year would be Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. The Jewish people also love to celebrate holidays. They call their holidays "feasts." There were three great annual national "feasts" in the Jewish religious calendar. The first was the Feast of the Passover; the second was known as the Feast of Pentecost; and the third was known as the Feast of Tabernacles. Now we know from v.2 that Jesus was speaking here during the Feast of Tabernacles. This was a high, happy, holy day in the life of the Jew. The Feast of Tabernacles was like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. During that feast the High Priest would go to the Pool of Siloam, take a golden pitcher, dip it into that pool, and carry it back to the temple. There he would pour that water out on the altar of sacrifice. At that moment the Levites would blow the trumpets, and the great crowd would cry out, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). There would be leaping, and dancing, and shouting, and singing, and great hallelujahs would fill the air. It was right at this climax of this great holiday that the Lord Jesus stood up in that crowd, and with that royal voice, cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." (v.37b) You see, Jesus realized that these people were drinking from the river of ritual…that after this day was over they would go back to the same old fears, the same old faults, the same old failures, the same old frustrations. What was wrong with that crowd in that day is what is wrong with many people today. They were drawing water from the wrong well. To often, we try to quench our thirst in all the wrong places. We drink from the worldly well instead from the well of life, which is found in Christ. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GAIN A SPIRITUAL THIRST, THEN LISTEN TO WHAT JESUS SAYS IN (JOHN 7:37). “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." I. TO GAIN A SPIRITUAL THIRST, WE MUST DESIRE GOD’S WATER. Notice the condition that Jesus lays down. "If anyone thirsts," (v.37) Now I thank God for that word "anyone." Jesus plainly said if anyone wants God…a relationship with God, he could have it. If anyone wants spiritual living, he can obtain it. If anyone seeks God he can find Him. But notice that this is specifically addressed only to those who are thirsty. The problem with many people is, they are just not thirsty for God and spiritual living. You see, before we can really have a close relationship with God, we’ve got to thirst for God. I mean we’ve got to thirst like the Psalmist who said… Psalm 42:1-5 What about when you’re dry on the inside? What happens then? Are you even aware of it when your soul is thirsty? As the deer pants Psalm 42 is written, is an arid environment. Most of the year there is very little rain, and most streams are nothing but gullies. Stories around water are prominent throughout Israel’s history. One of their formative experiences was 40 years in a wilderness. At one stage people were so dry that Moses prayed to the Lord, and he provided water out of a rock – an event celebrated every year during the Feast of Tabernacles. Generations earlier, Patriarch Jacob dug a well which is still present today, in the West Bank city of Nablus. Generations later, Jesus’ own teaching reminded his people of how blessed it is to give even a cup of water to the thirsty. Psalm 42 speaks about thirst. But it’s not physical thirst which is in view. It’s a deeper thirst. A dryness of soul. A withering thirst of one’s entire being. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1–2, NIV) This man is thirsting for God. How come? In the OT times, the only place people could meet with God was in the temple in Jerusalem. The problem was that the psalmist was nowhere near Jerusalem. Something has happened, and he’s acutely aware that he’s a long way from God’s presence. How do you know when you’re dry on the inside? Apparently, when you’re dying of thirst: you lose your taste, your tongue swells, you become disoriented, you have a terrible headache, you lose strength. What about spiritual thirst? Sometimes, it seems, we end up in a wilderness of soul. Spiritually dehydrated. God seems remote, far away; there’s no taste for God, no sense of his presence, faith seems weak; no desire to read; no heart for prayer; the things of God seem abstract and foreign; your soul feels dry and withered. Faith, love for Jesus, desire to praise, love for the church just seem to have evaporated in the dry heat of life’s harsh realities. The interesting thing about spiritual thirst is that it tends to come when conditions are adverse. Trouble, trial, pressure, stress, tension. Spiritual dryness can creep in. Dryness of soul can invade slowly and imperceptibly – and all of a sudden you realise “I am so thirsty inside…” How does this happen? Part of the problem is our lives are so busy. Diaries are chock full, work demands are high, spouse is doing this, kids are doing that, we’re bombarded by stimuli like email, the internet, iPhone, the iPad, who knows what else. And you know, we don’t sense the dryness of our soul. We are so busy with life’s demands that we scarcely notice how thirsty we are. In relation to the baptism vows we make about our children, we must think carefully about the lifestyle we lead, the sheer busyness we accept, and ask if that is the best way to lead our children to spiritual health. Me? Thirsty? So, when was the last time you took stock of your heart? Listened to your soul? Are you thirsty? Thirsty inside? Has your taste for God waned? Jaded with worship? Your spiritual life dull, grey, and you’re wondering where the sweetness of grace has gone? “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.” (Psalm 42:2–4) Sometimes these feelings come because we’re living in disobedience to God. Thirst, then, would be hardly surprising. But sometimes we just kind of end up in the wilderness. Earlier this week I was thinking: maybe we’re all feeling that a bit, maybe we’re feeling a bit depleted? A few people move, church changes, and we feel a bit down about that. Isn’t that a kind of thirst? For the way it used to be? Maybe so. It’s bit of a surprising term. Not that God deserts us, for he doesn’t ever forsake his people. But sometimes he allows us not to feel his presence – like the jaded Footprints writer – who wondered where God was in his toughest and hardest times. Sometimes God allows us to get thirsty. Perhaps at those times he’s changing things to alert us to something: that we haven’t quite been trusting him as we should. Might that be part of our thirst? Worth considering, isn’t it? Maybe God is allowing us to feel that emptiness, to sense that thirst, so we realise we can’t put our hope in people, or things, or experience, and that we can only trust him. Only when we are with God, when we trust God alone, the living God, will our thirst be quenched with his living water. Living water So, how do we do that? The Psalmist knew if he pulled more away from God his deep thirst would only get worse. Even if he didn’t know how God would help him, even if he didn’t know all the answers, or he couldn’t resolve his problems, he knew it was good to be near God: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5) Centuries later, at Jacobs Well, a woman came along, and she was thirsty. Sure, she was thirsty for water, but she was more thirsty for God – though like most, she didn’t know it.
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