Introduction

David wrote today’s key verse when he was in the wilderness of Judah.  If you have ever looked at pictures or videos of the wilderness of Judah (outside of Ein Gedi), you will see that it is about as desolate as desolate can be.  Though he was physically in the wilderness, we see David thinking spiritually here.  Note:  he said that it was his soul that thirsted for the Lord.  David said he desired to see God’s power and glory.  Do you feel as David today?  Are you thirsty for God?

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.

KEY VERSE(S) – PSALM 63:1-2 NKJV

The World’s Thirst

I am thinking about something that is becoming more and more apparent in our world today.  As David said he was in a land that was dry and thirsty where there was no water, I believe that paints a spiritual picture of our world today.  Speaking spiritually here:  this world is becoming more and more desolate and without good drinking water — spiritual water, that is.

Frankly, this thought scares me.  It scares me because I’m concerned for what wells of water people are drinking from spiritually.  I am also concerned because souls are becoming more and more exhausted from all we personally go through and all that we see going on around us.  In this exhaustion, people become desperate to nourish their soul and quench their spiritual thirst.  Ultimately this scares me because people end up drinking from the wells of the world and what the world provides for nourishment is not good for the soul.

We have to be very careful of the spiritual water that we drink.  There is water that corrupts and this is water provided and served in our world today.  Sadly, in desperation, many people are drinking something spiritually and believe that it has done them good when they are temporarily satisfied.  So, it comes down to what we want from our spiritual nourishment.  Personally, when I drink from the well of the Lord, I believe there is a spiritual strength He gives to me.  So, like David, my soul thirsts for the Lord.

Spiritual Nourishment from God

I want to take a moment to look at the strength that drinking from the well of God can provide you.  To do this, I want to take a look at the superhuman strength of Samson and the commonality we share with him.  So, when we think of Samson, there are a few things that come to mind — Delilah, his hair, and his ‘superhuman’ strength.

Purpose for Samson

Samson was a judge of Israel just like Samuel, Deborah, Gideon, and Jephthah.  During the times of the judges of Israel (between Joshua and the kingdom years), Israel would experience great highs and lived in peace when they were obedient to God.  At the same time, they would experience great lows and live in some desolate times when they did evil in God’s eyes.

In the days of Samson, the Israelites found themselves living in lowly desolate times. During these days, the Israelites found themselves living under the rule of the Philistines (Judg. 13:1).  So, we could think or say that the Israelites were spiritually living in a dry and thirsty wilderness at that time.  Samson was raised for the purpose of leading Israel out from under the rule of the Philistines.

In order to come out of this wilderness, they would need to thirst for God again.  Similar to those days, we live in a world where the devil encamps about this world and many find themselves under the rule of sin.  If those that happen to find themselves living under the rule of sin want out of living in that wilderness, they should thirst for the Lord as well.

Samson’s confrontation with the Philistines

In the responsive reading, we see a confrontation between Samson and the Philistines.  Samson torched their fields of grain which angered them and they wanted to apprehend him (Judg. 15:3-5).  They went up to arrest him but could not find him so 3,000 men of Judah actually arrested Samson and took him to the Philistines (Judg. 15:9-13)!  This kind of reminds me of how people gather and take others to the corrupt wells of the world to drink.

Now, let’s note some scripture here in this chapter of Judges.  We are told that when Samson stood before the Philistines, with his hands bound, that “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax.”  This is incredibly important for us to take note of!

The first thing we must understand is that Samson’s strength was not his own strength!  I want you to understand that this strength was not supplied by some special diet or weight training that Samson did.  I also want you to understand that this superhuman strength did not come from some other god/being.  Scripture clearly states that the Spirit of God came mightily upon him.  

With this strength, Samson was able to defeat 1,000 men with nothing but the jawbone of a donkey (Judg. 15:15).  Do you understand what this testifies of?  This testifies, again, of God’s power, strength, and might!  Without God, there is simply no way one man would be able to perform such a feat!  Again I tell you, nourishment from the Lord is a nourishment that provides strength!

Why We Should Thirst for God

Again, I drink from the well of God because he supplies that same strength to all of those that are His children!  Let me be clear, God is not going to supply you with the strength to go out and kill 1,000 men!  Lord knows we have enough mass murdering going on in our society.  No, through God, we have the strength to mow through all of our trials and tribulations in the same manner!  You see, the same Spirit that came mightily upon Samson now dwells inside of all of God’s children!

We are too consumed with this fascination of worldly power which is why many folks rather drink from the wells of this world.  Some get so deep into the wells of the world that they are consumed with debunking and disproving God with their “research”, their religion, and their conviction.  What has become very apparent to me is that many people are drinking from these other wells but they are not being filled or properly nourished.

I rather have spiritual strength than worldly strength.  I have tried and tested the well of God and know what drinking from that well has done for me!  You see, being properly nourished and strengthened in your spirit is what can power us through these desolate times when there’s so much anguish.  Understand that this spiritual strength is what powers us physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Eternally nourished

One final scripture that I want to share with you uses the words of Jesus, God in the flesh.  This scripture comes from the gospel according to John.  This event was recorded with Jesus sitting at Jacob’s well with a Samaritan woman.  Again, if you are not familiar with the relationship between the Jews and Samaritans, then you should know that they did not get along.  The Jews did not care for the Samaritans because they were brethren of the northern kingdom who could not trace their bloodline.

So, Jesus sat at Jacob’s well thirsty and asked the woman for water.  She scoffed at the idea of a Jew asking a Samaritan for help.  So, Jesus responded to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (John 4:10).”  The well of God is living water – it provides spiritual nourishment.

The life that Jesus was speaking of was life beyond this physical world.  To explain this further, let’s look at what Jesus Jesus continued and said to the Samaritan woman.  Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again” – this He said about the water of the world.  He continued, “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”   

So, again, the living water and life that Jesus was speaking about was beyond the nutrients and nourishment that anything this world can provide.  So, not only does the spiritual water that the Lord gives to us give us strength to endure and make it in desolate times but it also goes beyond this world.  We will live on beyond this world!  Drinking from the well of God leads to everlasting life!  There is so much more to the well of God.  The wells of this world simply can’t provide the quality of water that the Lord provides.  What well will you drink from to quench your spiritual thirst?  Are you thirsty for God?

Thought: Are You Thirsty for God

By Rev. Leo H. McCrary II – April 18, 2021
Responsive Reading – Judges 15:7-20
Key Verse – Psalm 63:1-2

Tags:

Thank You For Visiting New Found Faith

Sign up to our newsletter today so that you can stay up to date with New Found Faith