What are you Thirsting For?

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Psalm 42:1-2 (NASB)

I was blessed to be able to speak at a women’s retreat last weekend where the theme was, “What are you thirsting for?” We spent the entire weekend sharing our thirsts, examining the ways in which we seek to quench our thirsts, and ultimately, consulting the Word of God to see what it has to say about our thirsts. Turns out, it has a lot to say, beginning with the Israelites in the wilderness.

You probably know the story. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt, afflicted with hard labor because Pharaoh thought the Israelites were multiplying in the land and becoming a threat. Pharaoh even decided to kill every male newborn of the Israelites (Exodus 1). One of those babies was Moses, who was saved because his mother hid him in the Nile River. He was found and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, grew up in Pharaoh’s house, but fled after striking down an Egyptian who was beating one of the Israelites (Exodus 2:1-12).

Meanwhile, the people of Israel suffered still under the bondage and cried out to God for help. God heard them and sent Moses back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh, “Let My people go” (Exodus 3:5). Pharaoh refused, so God acted with great power. He sent ten mighty plagues upon Egypt which forced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but then Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them as far as the Red Sea. God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could pass through on dry land, and when the Egyptians followed them, God caused the waters to return to normal and drowned Pharaoh’s entire army in the sea (Exodus 14).

God’s plan was to lead them to the Promised Land, but there was one little difficulty: they were in the wilderness and found themselves without water. It was a very real problem; God designed our bodies such that we need water to survive, and if we don’t get it, we’ll die. But given that the Israelites had seen God perform miracle after miracle in Egypt and at the Red Sea, they knew it wouldn’t be a problem for God to provide water, right? They could have simply prayed, “O Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, we know that You can do all things, for You delivered us from Egypt with a mighty hand. And so we pray now that You, out of Your lovingkindness, would provide for our needs.” But that’s not what happened.

When there was no water to drink, the people grumbled and complained against Moses. They said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3). Moses cried out to God, and God brought forth water from the rock for the people to drink. Their thirst was quenched, but interestingly, there’s no account of the people thanking or praising God for the miracle.

Sometime later, the congregation camped at another area in which there was no water. Having seen what God was able to do the first time they thirsted, the people looked to Him this time to provide, right? Well. No. Again they grumbled and complained (Numbers 20:1-5). God performed another miracle, bringing water from the rock.

What was the problem here? When one reads the account, one can’t help but think, “Hello? Don’t you get it? Why are you grumbling and complaining when you’ve seen what God is able to do?”

The problem was their thirst. They didn’t thirst for the spiritual; they thirsted for the physical, the earthly, the temporal. Thus, they didn’t seek God, didn’t trust God, and didn’t understand that God had a purpose for them in the wilderness. He was the One who caused them to thirst, to humble and test them (Deuteronomy 8:15-16). And when He provided water from the rock, it wasn’t just any rock, “for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). But they didn’t get it. Their minds were on things of the earth, and as a result, only two people from that generation made it into the Promised Land. With the rest God wasn’t pleased, and they died in the wilderness for their unbelief.

The Bible tells us that these things happened as examples for us. So we should each ask ourselves, “What am I thirsting for?” Are we focused on earthly things or on things of God? Next week, we’ll see a biblical example of someone who thirsted for God.

Heavenly Father, I pray that You would search my heart and let me know the things that I thirst for, whether they are earthly or spiritual. Purify my thirsts, dear God, that I may glorify You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.