Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Living Water Fills Us Up

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? -- Psalm 42:1-2

There’s a beautiful song that uses words from this psalm. I sing it sometimes to myself as I walk, soothing my soul with a reminder that God truly is all that matters in this world.

We humans are filled with wants. I suppose that is a natural part of who we are as sinners. We always want what we don’t have. We’re not supposed to covet but we do anyway. We want the bigger house, the nicer car, the better job, the popularity prize. And when we get it, we want something else. It’s a never-ending cycle that refuses to fill us up inside.

Somehow we believe that if we just have enough stuff, the right stuff, we won’t feel so dead and empty inside. When will we ever realize that only God can fill that emptiness up so that it overflows with joy and contentment?

God is the source of all comfort. He is the source of all peace. When we turn to Him instead of things, we are filled with gratitude and joy. No. God isn’t a vending machine. Turning to Him with our checklist of wants doesn’t mean He’s going to give us our every desire. Remember that things don’t fill us up. What fills us up is a relationship with God.

It’s easy to confuse that wish list with having a relationship. Do we really think it’s possible to have a real relationship with someone when we only turn to Him when we want something? Or need something? Because when life goes sour and we’ve exhausted all other options, we always turn to God to fix things.

There have been times in my own life that I’ve wondered if bad times were God’s way of drawing me closer to Him. It’s just so easy to believe when things are going good that we are the author of our own destinies. It’s not true. We can do nothing without God. But it’s so easy to foolishly believe we can.

I’ve learned over the years to depend on God in ways I can’t begin to describe. Good times or bad. He is my confidant and biggest cheerleader. Many times He is my only cheerleader. But He has never let me down, never refused to listen and has always given me sound advice.

I find direction through prayer, listening and through His Word. He fills me up with living water. The more I drink, the more I want. I crave that relationship, that knowledge, that connection. My soul cries out to be filled with only what He can provide