At the crack of dawn, three excited young men headed their jeep into the heart of the Sahara desert. They were fulfilling a long-standing dream of tracking and bagging a gazelle. When they had not returned forty-eight hours later, a rescue helicopter was dispatched. By noon, all hope that the hunters would be found alive in the stifling heat and parched wasteland was dwindling.
In the afternoon, a lone vehicle was sighted. After continued searching, the three hunters were located four miles from the jeep. There was only one survivor, and thirst had driven his weary body to the point of madness. His distorted mind was mocked with the cruel image of an oasis, as he frantically dug with bare hands in the sand to reach the water. Rescuers gently placed him in the helicopter and began the struggle to save his life.
This man’s thirst was great, but it was not the worst type of thirst. Physical thirst ends with this life. Spiritual thirst can go unquenched into eternity. The Psalmist expressed the fundamental need of the human race when he said, “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:2).
Some try to satisfy this thirst for God with natural beauty. Some give themselves to unending activity by driving themselves in the business and commercial activities of the world. Some aim for political achievements. Others make great strides in medicine, combating disease and prolonging physical life. Yet all the while, deep in our hearts, we sense an awful void.
We form friendships and nourish relationships that we hope will support us through life. But, as we attend funerals, we find that even relationships cannot fully satisfy. In fact, if God is not the foundation of our purpose and desire, these final experiences can be emotional torture.
Behind every thought, activity and enjoyment in this world, there is something from which you cannot escape. It is something that says, “I am still unsatisfied.” There is something missing.
When the Lord Jesus was on the cross He experienced the agony of thirst as no one else has. His physical thirst became symbolic of our spiritual thirst. His death is the only means of alleviating this thirst. Jesus said to the woman at Sychar’s well, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14). The Lord Jesus Christ alone can satisfy the thirst and the cravings of the human heart, so that we can exclaim, “In God, my soul is satisfied!”
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