… In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

I am not a water drinker by inclination or background. In my German family we had wine, beer or plain seltzer with dinner. If water ever made its way to the able, it came straight from the faucet, cool never icy.  There were no ice or water dispensers in the old, chunky 50’s Frigidairs, just  stiff aluminum ice trays designed  to hold on to the cubes with glacial tenacity. When my parents did go out to a restaurant, Mom would grab the waiter before she even glanced  at  the menu. “No ice. No ice, “ she’d warn all those in earshot. My father, ever the wag,  insisted that water was for bathing, not  for drinking.

I imagine  that potable water was problematic in Europe during their lifetime. Cities were centuries old and their  ancient water systems were corroded.  The water flowing from the Danube or Rhine into local towns would not have been desirable.  My family brought the “no water “ habit to America and it has passed on to me.

Unfortunately, as I get older it is a challenge to drink enough water to keep properly hydrated. Whenever I see people tethered to  gargantuan water bottles sipping water all day long I wonder at their capacity. How are they not in the bathroom all the time? My brother  Peter visited recently for a week and every morning he’d set out three quart containers to remind me to –  Drink water; drink water! I really tried because I love Pete and know he wants me to stay healthy. I just can’t  get that much  liquid into me so in discouragement, I don’t even try. The result is that I often wake up at night extremely parched and thirsty.  My mouth is dry and my tongue scratches like sandpaper.  I need  a drink of water. NOW!  So I gulp down  the glass next to my bed to quench my thirst and wait  for the bathroom routine to start.  No, I do not sleep well and yes, this nightly roundabout is on me.   

The problem is my waiting too long to drink water. Experts say that by the time you feel thirsty, it’s already too late.  Steady intakes of water  are critical to the body’s survival and health. Almost 60%  of our body weight is water and  the brain and heart are more than 70%; That equates to  7-12 gallons. I should remember that the next time my mind is foggy.  More importantly, most people cannot live more than two or three days without water and in extreme conditions, no more than a single day.We need water to survive.

I am writing about water and thirst because  a good friend taught me “as in the natural, so in the spiritual.” We are of body and of spirit but I wonder if the order isn’t reversed: “As in the spiritual, so is the natural“ as we live out our spiritual life in God.  Last night when I woke up  extremely thirsty again,  I  remembered  David’s cry  in the wilderness:

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. Psalm 63:1

Similarly in Psalm 42, he desires  water like  a thirsty animal at a stream.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Psalm 42:1

David’s thirst is spiritual, for God. His soul is so parched that only God can rehydrate him. Older translations  use the startling word pant,  a word for animals. When my  dog needs water on hot days, he pants and when in distress his tongue hangs out. It is also what women do in childbirth right before birthing when the womb has expelled the amniotic water and begins contractions.   It is an extreme, desperate reaction in the wilderness desert of the body and soul where  earthly things are beyond our control.  However, David’s pleas always end in praise and glorifying God. It is as if in the center of his “I’m about to die” desperation  he remembers God, hopes in God,  and praises God who alone slakes his thirst. Like water for our bodies, God designed us to thirst for Him when we’re in a dry land where there is no water.

It is the  Spirit of God who hovered over the waters in Genesis; Who watered the earth  before there was rain;  Who formed  man out of the dust and infused him him with 60-70% of waters e  needed to survive. It is God Who makes us pant for Him alone. It is the Father  Who gave us Jesus  and it is Jesus  Who who invites us to drink:

³ On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! ³⁸ Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart. John 7:37-38

Jesus was human like us. One of the barbaric torments of crucifixion was the person’s extreme thirst from loss of bodily fluids. Jesus was violently flagellated before being crucified and must have bled profusely. Poignantly, just before He gave up is spirit, on the cross Jesus said, ”I thirst.” As His tongue to clung to His jaws, the messianic prophecy of Psalm 22 was fulfilled. John writes that someone offered Jesus a sponge filled with sour wine which Jesus received. Obedient even to death, Jesus divinely thirsted for the souls of men, but was offered received sour wine instead.   To paraphrase a Johnny Cash song, does that not cause us to tremble?

God  designed humans to be water dependent. When I’m dehydrated I realize  it very quickly and get a drink. Likewise, my spirit  survives on the water of the Word.  On Jesus, the Word and His living water. Perversely too often I wait until I am completely desiccated and bone dry before crawling to the water’s edge. We dare not stay away from Jesus even for day. God created us to need Jesus much more than we need water bottles. Our thirst for the Lord is a survival thirst.