LENT WK 1: THIRST
Lent Week 1: THIRST We thirst because were thirsted for…..
Thirst. When do you remember the last time you were really thirsty? How did you quench that thirst? There is nothing like a drink of cold water or something to quench our thirst after a hot day, or after a hard run, or intense workout.
A friend was recently sharing with me how she drinks 150oz of water a day. She says she just feels better and noticed how early in her life she felt so lethargic. She admitted she lived off of any kind of coke, diet or other wise. She realized how much her body had been longing for water.
To be human is to be a living thirst container…..
As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, So my [a]soul pants [longingly] for You, O God. My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?….Psalm 42:1-2
Have you noticed how thirsty you are lately? Maybe not for a drink but for living water to quench the thirst that swells deep inside of you. We are all thirsty and yet we are looking for all kinds of life liquid to quench us. Thirsty for success? Achieve more. Thirsty for validation? Serve more, do something spectacular. Thirsty for being seen or noticed? Talk more, make some noise. Thirsty for security? Work more than you have capacity for. Thirsty for knowledge? Read more….we have all kinds of thirsts that seem to parch our spiritual taste and we look for places or people to quench those that can sometimes lead us farther away from our deeper longings.
Suppressing our thirst doesn’t make us unhealthier nor holier…..
Lent is a season of noticing our deeper thirst. For 6 weeks a year, I am invited by God’s thirst for me to return to Him. To notice how I have tended to my deep thirsts. What I have come to realize is this: numbness is our thirst gone sideways.
I can get attached to all kinds of things in a very subtle way that quenches my thirst for control, survival, belonging, and affirmation. Yes, Lent is full of repentance, renewal, and resurrection but at the heart of these is a thirst beneath the contour of my life and soul that is longing for something that only God can quench.
We thirst because were thirsted for…..
And maybe just maybe it wont be fully quenched this side of heaven. And maybe just maybe the only relief we will get for our thirst will only be found through turning and returning to god. This is the heart of Lent as well, a returning. A noticing of how I have turned from God and why.
Enter a common practice of Lent which I frankly am not to fond of in general: Fasting. Fasting uncovers thirst from something in order to turn towards something else. It’s a practice of noticing where certain things or people have been leading us to quench our thirsts in maybe not so refreshing ways. Food, alcohol, packed schedules, social media, workaholism, Netflix binge watching. Fasting creates new space in our soul for the Spirit to quench our thirst.
This isn’t a matter of pushing through with gut strength but rather a way of praying for a grace that you notice you didn’t have the past year. A grace from the Spirit to empower you to turn to something new to quench this ever increasing thirst. in an age of thirst quenching at your finger tips by buying what you want, watch what you want, and have pseudo community when you want, this feels like slow work.
Changing how we quench our thirst is slow work…..
But we forget that Jesus own thirsts were tempted for 40 days in the desert. One of the reasons Jesus was able to resist the forms of thirst quenching from the enemy was he had been already turning his soul towards the Father in the desert. I have noticed that trying to quench my thirst apart from the living water my soul longs for only leads me further into the desert.
Read: Psalm 42:1-2, Mathew 4: 1-11, Joel 2:12-13
Ask:
What are you thirsting for currently? Where are you turning to quench that thirst?
Can you trust Jesus with your deepest thirst and longing?
What might Jesus be inviting you to let go of or detach from as a way of letting your thirst fully come to him this Lent season?
This week, Pray for the grace to notice your thirst and pour it out to Jesus
Note: Sentences highlighted in this blog are excerpts taken from Strahan Colemans book Thirsting.