Water or Cola?

Psalms 42: 1 - 2, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. NKJV

The Bible is filled with typology and symbolism. A dry and parched land is used throughout the Old Testament to illustrate to us what the absence of God's presence and sin does to the stray or the lost soul of man. Water is a very valuable resource to all humans, but it becomes very precious when that resource becomes scarce.

Life is filled with many pleasures and spiritual distractions that can lead us away from having and maintaining an intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father. Since we understand that Satan will use the pleasures of the world to lure us from the living water of God, we must continuously guard our hearts from his temptations.

When a person becomes thirsty after working or exercising, they can quench that thirst with various liquids that have been produced by man. When I am parched and need to be rehydrated, I grab some water and find that it takes care of the thirst very quickly. However, there are times when I'm in need of refreshment, and I will reach for a cola or sports drink and ignore water. When our bodies crave water, many times we allow our taste buds to override our thirst. Instead of drinking something natural, a lot of times, we will choose to drink something that has carbonation and flavors that enhance the experience.

Living in this world offers us a wide array of choices, but if we desire to quench the thirst of our parched souls, there's just one choice. Jesus tells us in John 14: 6 that He is the only way to the Father. Jesus came to earth so that we might have life and enjoy it to the full. The psalmist tells us that there is no lack for those who trust in the Lord. In this world, we will have lack because this world is not kind. However, the Kingdom of God supplies every spiritual need we will ever have because God is love, and love gives.

When your soul thirsts for spiritual refreshment, do you turn to the very Source of life, or do you allow your desires to cause you to look elsewhere? Like water, God will seem dull and even bland to the carnal appetites of the flesh, but our soul will die without His living waters. God is faithful to all who call on His name. He is faithful to those who are thirsty and only need Him when they're in trouble, and He is faithful to those who thirst for Him constantly. 

Jesus told the woman who was thirsty that if she drank from Jacob's well, she would thirst again. He offered her living water that would flow out of her innermost being and would never run dry. As Christians, we can run to God, or we can run after God. Are you thirsty for God, or do you have a thirst for God?

Drinking from the Fountain of Life,
Pastor Asa Dockery