Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Psalm 42 - Thirsty for what?

Most people wake up and one of the first things they do is have a drink. I love my cups of tea in the morning although I occasionally have a glass of warm water with a touch of lemon juice – not because it is pleasant but because it is supposed to cleanse your system or something … well, it had better do something!
In the end it doesn’t matter what you like to have, it is just feels good to drink something in the morning. Your mouth is dry and you just want to drink. Sure caffeine may give you a little buzz but it is the liquid that you long for.

I sleep soundly. Nothing wakes me.
I have slept through rough ferry trips to France which challenged most people’s ability to maintain the location of their last meal. I wasn’t even roused from my slumber when my wife ‘accidentally’ kicked me [hard] when we were in bed. I even slept peacefully as a hurricane swept across the south cost of England in 1987, making my route to school almost impossible thanks to it’s unexpected placing of objects (such as roofs and trees) in my path.
Like I said, nothing wakes me.

Until, that is, one morning last week.
I just woke up. It was still dark, very dark and my mouth felt dry. Parched even. I looked passed my wife to the alarm clock. It was only half past three! Why was I awake?
I slumped back on my pillow hoping to drift off to sleep again but I couldn’t. I was thirsty. Really thirsty. I couldn’t ignore it or hold it at bay for a few more hours. In the end I got up and navigated my way to the kitchen in the dark. Grabbing the largest glass I could find I filled it to the brim with water and glugged it down. It was good, very good. In fact, to my sleepy senses it was beautiful. But I needed another.

Now, I hope you don’t mind me saying, but as you can appreciate the consumption of such quantities of liquid before returning to bed would normally results in at least one urgent visit to the bathroom. Not that night, my body wanted to keep it all.

Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)
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?

All of this sprang to mind as I began to read this Psalm the other morning. This passionate song of fusion between longing and fulfilment, all of which is bound up in God.

I reflected on these words as I sung it in my mind over and over. What does my soul thirst for? I am glad that despite my aptitude for deep sleeping my body is able to still rouse consciousness in me to satisfy its basic needs. But am I equally sensitive to my soul’s cry?
Is my soul crying out, desperate for a drop of living water, as I check out the headlines on Teletext, make sandwiches for lunch and get breakfast ready? Do I ignore my spirits basic needs because it cannot physically grab my attention? Is its thirst, its craving any less real or urgent than my body’s need for food and water and air?

Nature is inventive (or crazy, it depends how you look at it – I have seen ‘March of the Penguins’!). I have watched so many nature shows in my life where a variety of creatures have found some absurd and unlikely means of getting the water it requires.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say! How inventive can you be to satisfy the longing of your soul thirsty for God?

  • Write down a passage of scripture and keep it in your pocket. Read it every time you go to get your keys out of your pocket.
  • Put a Bible verse on your mobile phone as a screen saver.
  • Take you Bible to the bathroom with you.
  • Record yourself singing a worship song and store it as a ring tone on your mobile (you should hear my wife’s :o)
  • Pray while you savour your cup of morning coffee.
  • Go for a prayer jog.

“When can I go and meet with God?” (v2)
Can you think of any other ideas?

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PS It's snowing here! Yippee!!!!

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