Water for Your Thirstنموونە

Water for Your Thirst

It's very common to find illustrations in the Scriptures that help us better understand what is being said. Jesus often used parables as a teaching method. He wanted to illustrate what he was saying, even if many didn't understand, and he had to explain them.

One of the images we can identify with most is the one that refers to the thirst of the soul. As we all know, human beings cannot live without water. Our bodies send us the message that we are thirsty, so we don't forget to supply that vital need.

But when the Bible talks about the thirst of the soul, what does it really mean? How can our inner self be thirsty? What signs does our soul give us to recognize the thirst it has? What can our soul be thirsty for?

Our greatest need is the thirst for God. Just as water is necessary for the body, God is necessary for human beings. When the psalmist spoke to God about his thirst, he said in Psalm 42:2 (NIV), "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." Only God can satisfy the soul's thirst—that need to feel fulfilled by the reality of having God in our lives. There are times when the words desert, drought, and dryness best describe the condition of our soul. Nothing and no one but God can quench that thirst. That's why the world, in its confusion and ignorance, tries to give its soul diluted, murky, contaminated water that can never and will never quench its thirst.

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman and had a conversation with her, he brought her a revelation of vital importance. Making a clear contrast between physical water and the living water for the soul, Jesus said in John 4:13-14 (NIV), "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Although she didn't fully understand, the Samaritan woman made a request of Jesus that should be the desire of every human being. In John 4:15 (NIV), she said, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus is the living water who can satisfy our thirst. The wonderful thing is that we can confidently go to the one who opens "pools in the desert and springs of water in the dry land." Isaiah 41:18 (NIV). Only God can satisfy our soul's thirst, and that water from God never stops flowing toward us because it is inexhaustible.