Psalm 63:1
“O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
During one of our first journeys to England, I forgot to take along my Bible and Daily Light devotional book from which I read every night before spending time in prayer. By the end of the first week, I experienced a profound sense of dryness and thirst. Not being in His Word every day had left me parched. The Lord reminded me of today’s verse, “…my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” I also had a sense that there was an absence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the towns and villages we visited, as if the land itself was parched. We have become aware over the years that the percentage of committed, church-going Christians is less than ten percent in England, perhaps as few at six percent. Our burden to pray for them is heavy.
Have you ever been so thirsty that you felt you would faint? Perhaps not, but maybe there is another thirst, a thirst for something that is missing in your life. God alone is the One who can truly satisfy our thirsty souls. Only in Him can our physical and spiritual needs be met; only in Him can the deep desires of our lives be quenched; only in Him can we find true satisfaction. His Word offers not only the nourishment we need to get through each day but the strength our soul and spirit need to face the challenges life brings. We must drink up!
The first step in gaining refreshment for my thirst while away from home was to buy a devotional from the nearest cathedral gift shop. The next step was to pray for our earthly home, America, as well as for England, the land that is not our own but we love nonetheless.
Lord, help us to seek refreshment for our souls in You by drinking from Your Word each day until there is no more thirst. We pray also for our country, America, and for our adopted country, England, until that day when there are springs of living water running deep, filling every thirsty heart to overflowing. We pray your name, Jesus, who satisfies our thirst by your living water. Amen.
