Mar 13 - "Thirsty"

"O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you as in a barren and dry land where there is no water." --- Psalm 63: 1-8
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As many of you know (my wife painfully so, especially during the last few weeks of marathon training), I am a runner. A part of having a good run, meaning, you don't die somewhere along the way or pass out after, is making sure you are properly hydrated. Before I head out on my almost daily runs, I am sipping water or some type of electrolyte drink; for those long runs of 12 miles plus, I take some along with me for when I get thirsty.

Thirst is such an interesting concept. Think about the marvel of physical being that you are and the perfect design God created in each one of us. Our body needs water and fuel in order for it to function properly. Since we are such a forgetful spieces, God created a physical yearning for water in order to make sure we did not forget to drink, shrivel up and die. He created the feeling of thirst, a feeling that is so powerful at times, we can become consumed by it...we would do almost anything to quench it.

But, we are not just physical beings, we are also spiritual beings. And, just as our physical beings require fuel to function, our spiritual beings require the equivalent, a spiritual "Gatorade", per se. What is this spiritual fuel we need? I believe it is moments spent in communion and in relationship with God. Do you not thirst for this relationship? If you dig deep down into your heart of hearts, the place where all things are the brutal truth, which you may never share with anyone else, don't you thirst and feel an emptiness longing to be quenched?

One of my favorite songs from Christian radio is "God-shaped Hole" by Plumb. The chorus of the song speaks to our thirst: "There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and the restless soul is searching. There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and it's a void only he can fill." When we came into our human existence at birth, each of us is born with this God-shaped hole. Unfortunately, many of us spend a good portion of our lives...I most certainly have and still often do...trying to fill that hole with something besides God. This effort to fill the "hole" is so consuming and compelling that we find ourselves in an addictive state: additicted to food, alcohol, drugs, lust, anger, hate, work or some other thing which causes us to pour greater and greater amounts of the addiction into a hole that can never be filled in such a way. We continue this unquenching behavior to complete our spiritual beings to a point where we are able to destroy our physical beings.

How do we quench this thrist? How do we fill this God-shaped hole? There is no cost to pay, no prerequisite for entry, no act we can perform or goal we can achieve which will allow us to drink from the bottomless chalice of grace and love He gives to us. All we have to do is ask Him for it; seek it; knock on the door. By opening ourselves up to the gift He has already given to us, by allowing ourselves to be filled up, our great and unending thirst is sweetly quenched.

So, partake, dear friends, from the cup that has already been filled and offered to you. Quench your thirst by seeking that relationship with God that is unique and defined only by you and God, not by the world. Drink deeply and thirst no more.