Reminiscing
a time, while running for my connecting
flight, experienced this deep thirst, which was
painful, hurting and sore. It was as if my tongue was cleaving to the
roof of my mouth, and it was not at all pleasant but agonizing.
Thirst – Hebrew: Yisemah – thirsty, overwhelming desire for either the natural, or for the hidden knowledge of God. Every English translation says the “people were thirsty” past tense. One version even says they were tormented by thirst. (Chaim Bentorah).
The Exodus story of Israel in (Ezekiel 17:13) speaks
volumes on crossing the desert on the way to the promised land. We can see perspicuously that people were murmuring
and complaining at this place, Rephidim,
against Moses. This muttering is basically, because they were in fear, being
filled with the desires of the flesh!
Thirst is one of the most powerful natural appetites, the cravings for
water or other drink. Besides its natural significance, thirst is figuratively
used of strong spiritual desire. The soul thirsts for God, recorded in (Psalms
42:2; 63:1). Where are we camped now in
our personal journey? Are we camped at Rephidim?
But they were filled with desire, desire for the flesh. May be the situation around us are not in favour of us, in all areas, and it is possible everything around us are against our normal desires. Is it possible that we are like the people of Israel, fretting over the fear of funds drying up, health failing, relationships falling apart, even before they do? Are we fretting over no water even before we get thirsty?
What do we thirst (Yisemah) for? Are we (thirsting, desiring) for natural
security? We all need security and protection in this fallen world.
Is our desire and thirst on the flip side of yiseman, is to discover the
hidden secrets in God’s Word, and the God who loves us? Do we seek to use this
experience of thirst, to know God, and improve our personal relationship with
Christ? If our thirst is on the flip side of physical thirst most of the times,
it is a sign for growth and learning.
No one need to shuffle through lives
in an unconscious stupor- susceptible to emotional highs and lows, suffering in
anxiety, fear, worry, hatred, bitterness, anger, guilt and other heart issues,
which can negatively impact our soul strength. It is because, in Mark 15:23, Jesus
Christ, the King of the Universe, was thirsting at the Cross. Thirsting for
what?
The One who made the waterfalls, rivers, lakes,
and oceans, was in thirst. Many saints and scholars
have noted, and most of us can agree that Jesus is groaning for something
greater and even more significant, than the physical thirst. This thirst is the
similitude, for the thirst of all the souls. This thirst was full of pain,
misery, agony, distress, suffering, anguish, torment, and torture for the souls
of humanity, the world, John 3:16. In His great thirst He brought
the fountain of Living Water which flows from God’s Throne Room. Keeping
our feelings, desires, and thought pattern tethered to the truth of God’s Word
will be our lifeguard, and the key for a joyful heart.
