Time with Jesus - 24
Oct 2013
Thirst is a terrible thing. If you’ve ever been really
thirsty, you’ll know what I mean. I’m glad I’ve never been there. Not in the
same sense many people have. David gives a description of a man dying from
thirst. Actually this is seen as a prophetic account of what the Messiah would
experience.  |
| Parched and Thirsty Land |
It’s difficult to know where David was, or what he was
referring to in these two psalms. He may have been referring to incidents when
he was a shepherd, taking care of his father’s sheep. However, that’s unlikely.
It’s more probable to have occurred, while he was on the run from King Saul.
The places where he hid from Saul were probably in the arid regions near the
Dead Sea. There are springs of water there, but not easy to get to when on the
run!
Although I’ve never been thirsty in the conventional
sense, I’ve experienced something of what it is like when the tongue sticks to
the roof of the mouth. On occasions, in the pulpit, I’ve paused for a drink of
water. If I don’t have a sip, my tongue starts to stick to my palette and
speaking becomes more difficult.
People ask, what is thirst. There are two types. One is
purely physical. The other is spiritual.
Physical thirst is the craving for fluids, resulting in the basic instinct of
animals to drink. It is an essential mechanism involved in fluid balance. It
arises from a lack of fluids or an increase in the concentration of certain
osmolites, such as salt. If the water volume of the body falls below a certain
threshold or the osmolite concentration becomes too high, the brain signals
thirst. (Courtesy Wikipedia)
Fortunately for us, the Lord knows what it is like to be
thirsty and not having water. In Isaiah He says: 17 "The poor and needy
search for water, but there is none; their
tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of
Israel, will not forsake them. 18
I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched
ground into springs. Isaiah 41:17-18 TNIV
Spiritual thirst
is a longing for God in ways difficult to understand. When Jesus spoke to the
Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, He clarified the difference. The entire
discourse in John 4:5-42 presents the background and throws much light on
physical and spiritual thirst.
Many years ago I rephrased the entire discourse in a
poem called, “Jesus and the Woman at the Well”. I’ve included part of that poem
from John 4:13-15 NIV. The words reveal the
way they were speaking at two different levels. She was talking about physical
water. He was referring to the “water” of the Holy Spirit!
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give him
will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring
of water welling up to eternal life.” John
4:13-14 NIV
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Jesus
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1)
"Woman, thanks for telling me your problems and your woes.
They must have been a problem to relate.
Everything
you've said to me, I'm sure Jehovah knows,
And understands the causes of
your fate
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3)
Water out of Jacob's well, a man must drink to live;
In
order that his thirst, he can contain;
But
whoso drinks the water that I, alone, can give,
He,
will never ever thirst again.
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2) So
let me assure you that the problems you have faced,
Should
not be confronted on your own.
What
is really needed is a little tiny taste
Of water that's obtained from
me alone!
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4)
The water which I give is like a flowing bubbling spring
Of
water welling up on the inside.
Streams
of Living Water will flow from deep within,
And
everlasting life will thus abide!"
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15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water
so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:15 NIV
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Woman
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1)
Sir, what You've said sounded super.
I can
hardly believe what I hear.
It
sounds like a dream - Designed for a queen,
To
take away all of her fear!
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3) To
live without thirst must be blissful.
In
fact, it's too good to believe!
And
not to come here,
Every day, every year!
Is
more than my mind can conceive!
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2)
Water is so fundamental;
Essential
for sustaining life.
Being
dehydrated 's
Like being equated,
With
cutting your throat with a knife!
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4) So
please give me some of Your water,
That
thirst may depart from my door.
I
want to apply - To drink the well dry,
From
Your strange and invisible store!"
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Perhaps the tragedy all of us have to face when we
desire to follow Jesus, is the difference between physical and spiritual
“water”. It’s only when we approach Jesus, we start to realise how thirsty we
are for God. We realise our tongues are sticking to our palettes with a thirst
only Jesus Christ can satisfy.
Shalom
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 24 Oct 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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JIMMETS
– THIRST & CRACKED CISTERNS
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Stick-ability. This quality
in most people is lacking. If I said unstick-ability, the word would better
reflect the built-in fickleness we find all around us. Perhaps the best
example to describe this generically, is to look at pop-stars. Some are
remembered. The Beatles, the BG’s, the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra are
among the best known and best loved. Some are now distant memories. Al
Jolson, Peter Sellers, Sidney James, Doris Day, Gertrude Lawrence and scores
of others spring to mind. There’s also been a few one day wonders. Debbie
Boone, Leapy Lee and Johnny Ray spring to mind. The fact I barely remember
their names, suggests they were little more than one day wonders!
Ladies fashions also come and
go. Who remembers the mini-skirt? For some inexplicable reason, men seem to
remember them much better than the ladies. I wonder why? When we look at
photographs taken more than 20 years ago, we are surprised how much fashions
have changed. For the ladies, skirts went up and down; became fuller and
slenderer. Swim suits went from one piece all concealing to two piece all
revealing. Well, revealing as much as modesty and the law permit. Men’s shoes
from long and pointed “winkle-pickers” to square toes. Trousers from turn-ups
to no turn-ups. String ties to cravats.
Sadly, this has also happened
with people and their relationship with God. During WW2, the Brits were a
God-fearing nation. No longer. A recent survey revealed Britain as second on
the list of the most Godless nations. We are now nearing the end of the third
generation since WW2. People have no thirst for God because they think they
have no need for God. Why should they? The state provides just about everything.
Taxes are high but what can you expect from a nation where there is very
little incentive to work. Why bother with a job, when you can get as much “on
the dole” as you would from an employer? It is not grossly different in RSA.
Except the people have replaced God with politicians!
Today, people look everywhere
to find God! Ancestor worship, Politicians, Islam, Buddhism and New Age to
name but a few. Jeremiah commented that the people had deserted the One true
God and dug themselves cisterns. Broken cisterns than cannot hold water. They
had looked for God everywhere except where He can be found.
Our nation is dying from
thirst. There is no stick-ability. No thirst for the only God Who can save. Instead
they search and experiment with the false gods of the nations. Nothing has
changed in ±2500 years. People continue to search for their own gods. Then
they die, thirsty and empty, just as has happened since the fall. Help Lord
Jesus!
Jim
& Phyllida
Strickland
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17
"Those who are poor and needy search for
water. But there isn't any. Their tongues are dry because they are thirsty.
But I will help them. I am the LORD. I will not desert them. I am
Israel's God.
Isaiah 41:17 NIrV
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Thirst
Isaiah 41:17
Are you truly longing for a drink,
That will banish thirst for evermore?
Does it so consume you that you think,
“Isn’t there a way I can restore,
Sanity to find that which I crave?
I have scratched this itch until it bleeds!
This will surely drive me to the grave.
Anything to gratify my needs.
Something that will slake this dreadful thirst,
Nothing ever seems to satisfy!
I’ve become so desperate I will burst!
Help me Lord or I will surely die!”
“Come to Me my child and drink of Me.
Thirst will pass away eternally”
.
Jim Strickland
2012/10/24
Cracked Cisterns
Jeremiah 2:13
Why is it My people seldom learn?
Why is it they try to catch the breeze?
Why is it they always seem to turn?
Why is it they go on bended knees,
Worshipping their gods made out of gold?
Why is it they dig wells all of their own?
Cisterns that are cracked and will not hold,
Water and are just as dry as bone?
They’ve abandoned Me the only One,
Who can bring the rain upon the land.
Why is it that when the water’s gone,
They don’t even try to understand;
That while walking in apostasy,
Blessing will not flow to them from Me?
Jim Strickland
2012/10/24
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6 Many are saying, "Who can show us anything good?"
Let the light of your presence shine on us, O LORD.
Psalms 4:6 GW
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22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart
with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a
vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is
vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 ESV
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17 So I
hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:17 ESV
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13
"For My people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned Me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for
themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT
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37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I
will never turn away anyone who comes to me.
John 6:37 GW
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3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and
floods on the dry ground. I will pour My spirit on your seed, and My blessing
on your offspring;
Isaiah 44:3 MKJV
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6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6 ESV
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A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 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.
Psalms 63:1 ESV
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