Thirst

Dear Boys and Girls,

Kadin pulled his hat further down over his ears and braced himself against the stinging wind. He peered over the fence into the water buckets. Each one was filled with a hard chunk of ice. Not a drop of water was to be seen anywhere. In the pen, the ducks set up a racket at the sight of Kadin. Kadin always let them out so they could roam all day, digging their bills in mud and dead leaves, dunking and splashing in the duck pool, sipping water and gobbling corn. At night, before the foxes and raccoons came out, Kadin herded the ducks back inside again.

Kadin knocked the ice out of the buckets and filled each one with fresh, clean water. Then he opened the duck pen. The ducks had been waiting for him, watching every move. Their quacking had grown moment by moment as they waited anxiously. Now, they almost ran over each other in their haste. Waddling as fast as they could they hurried over the frozen ground. Their bright eyes focused on the buckets; they had only one thought in mind—water!

“B-a-a-a.” The sheep added to the chorus of ducks, sounding forlorn.

Kadin glanced around. He didn’t see the sheep. Where was she? Quickly clambering over the fence, he hurried to the sheep shed. What he saw made him gasp. There was his little sheep, but what was wrong? She lay on her side, her eyes staring unseeingly into the distance. Kadin knelt down and gingerly stroked her wooly head. “B-a-a-a.” Her voice was raspy and much quieter than usual. Kadin quickly fetched one of the buckets he had just filled. Tucking it under the sheep’s chin, he watched her slurp the water eagerly. Then she sagged to the floor again, exhausted from the effort. Kadin bit his lip. Had his sheep been so in need of water that she had lost all her strength? He made up his mind to go outdoors once every hour the rest of the day to knock the ice out of the buckets. Poor little sheep!

Water is essential—for people, plants, and animals. Plants will not grow without water, animals will die when they lack it, and people need to be refreshed by it. There are also hearts which thirst for water. This is not regular water, but it is a thirst for the things of God—in the Bible, it is called “living water.” Just as animals are sometimes very anxiously searching for water, so these hearts very earnestly look for and desire to have communion with God. They need Him and long to hear His voice and feel His nearness. They need His righteousness. What does that mean, His righteousness? This means that they know it can never be right between them and the Lord UNLESS they receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If Jesus, the Son of God, will stand between them and the Judge of heaven and earth, with His righteousness, only THEN will they be able to be reconciled with God.

By nature, our hearts are dead; we are dead in sin, which means there is no spiritual life in us. If we had spiritual life, we would love God and wish to serve Him. Is there a way to obtain this spiritual life, despite our sinful heart and sinful existence? The Lord Jesus spoke of this to the Samaritan woman by the well. “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” He speaks of living water which He is able to give. This means He is able to give life to a dead soul. When that soul becomes alive, it will never run completely dry; it will never be dead again. That soul will no longer thirst insatiably for satisfaction; it will no longer constantly try to find happiness in all the wrong ways and all the wrong places.

The Lord always cares for these souls. They can become weak from lack of hearing His voice; they can become anxious because they seem to be waiting so long for a word from His mouth. They can become afraid that they have been forgotten. Will they ever receive a sip of living water again? Their strength is all gone; they are tired of sin, of themselves, and they wonder if it was their own imagination that they ever received something from Him. Then the Lord comes again. He comforts and upholds them; He does not let them die of thirst.

Where do you look for happiness? Do you think that you will be satisfied if you are able to buy all the things you wish to have? Do you think that you will be satisfied if you are everyone’s favorite friend, if you have perfect grades in school, or if you can go on vacation to a place you have always wanted to go? Perhaps you think that you would be satisfied if you could help others, especially those who are poor or sick. Perhaps you think time for your favorite hobbies would satisfy you, or maybe you try to find your joy in nature. None of these things will bring true happiness. Those who seek their happiness in the world will continue to thirst because nothing will truly satisfy. The living water which Jesus speaks of—mercy from Him—is the only true satisfaction.

Jesus spoke when He was hanging on the cross, “I thirst.” He was thirsty for a drink of water, but no one gave Him water to satisfy this thirst. He suffered thirst so that He could obtain living water for His people. He once cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” He means that “whoever you are, rich or poor, young or old, if you desire to be truly and eternally happy, come to Me and be ruled by Me, and I will undertake to make you happy.” We would rather run the other way and seek our happiness elsewhere. How foolish we are. Ask the Lord to draw you by His Word and Spirit; ask Him to give you that true spiritual thirst which can only be satisfied by Him.

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