Thirsty Souls

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).

You can't live without water. Go a few hours without something to drink, and you'll be uncomfortable. Go without water for a day or two, and you'll feel weak and dehydrated. Go without it for several days, and you will die. A soldier depends on his canteen. An athlete depends on his Gatorade™. A farmer depends on the rain or an irrigation system.

In the hot, dry climate of the Middle East, ancient herdsmen quarreled over the rights to productive, fresh-water wells (Genesis 26:19-22). They also would carve out cisterns—crude retention tanks to hold rain water. It was hard work to dig cisterns out of the ground, and once you dug them, even the best would crack and leak. Woefully inferior to wells, cisterns would run dry during droughts. Plus, cistern water became stagnant, foul-tasting, and infested with germs. Nobody in his right mind would prefer to drink cistern water if he had the chance to drink pure water from a spring.

"My people have committed two sins," God told Jeremiah. "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2:13). If you try to quench your spiritual thirst by digging your own cisterns, you'll soon discover that they don't hold water.

Materialism is a leaky cistern. It says "indulge yourself." Try to fill the void with cars, clothes, money, and toys.

Hedonism is a leaky cistern—the ancient philosophy that says "enjoy yourself." Have a ball while you can; eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.

Denominationalism is a leaky cistern. It says "label yourself" a Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, or some other religious title, and assume that your church traditions will make you right with God even if you have no real relationship with him. Even the wonderful name "Christian" can be corrupted if we wear it with a sectarian spirit and divide the body of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 1:10-13.)

Humanism is a leaky cistern. It says "exalt yourself"—as if the human mind is supreme and you can work out all your problems without God.

Workaholism says "push yourself." Focus on your own accomplishments. Stay so busy you don't have time to think about your responsibility toward God.

New Age-ism says "worship yourself." Create your own religious system. Ignore the Bible, make up your own rules, and dabble in the latest spiritual fads.

Finally, we're left with nothing but pessimism, which says "resign yourself." Life is a bad joke; you're at the mercy of your circumstances; all is depressing and hopeless.

Manmade cisterns like those don't hold water. They can't satisfy a thirsty soul because they're all based on the dry, limited resource of self. They are broken cisterns filled with cracks and leaks. You can spend years trying to carve out your own cisterns, only to end up still thirsty at the end of your life. There's only one way to satisfy spiritual thirst. David wrote about it in the desert of Judah: "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).

"If anyone is thirsty," Jesus said, "let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). Missionaries? They're spiritual water-carriers. For at the deepest level of the soul, every human being thirsts most of all for peace with God.