Jesus said those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled [chortazo- according to their appetite, or level of desire; filled according to one’s satisfaction]. Matthew 5:6
One of the most powerful natural physical desires and needs, is a person’s craving for water, or other form of drink. Besides its natural significance, thirst is also at times figuratively used for representing a person’s strong spiritual desire. In the Psalms David expressed his soul’s thirst for God (Psalms 42:2; 63:1).
Psalm 42:2 (ESV)
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
Psalm 63:1 (KJV)
O God, you are my God; tearnestly I seek you;
umy soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in va dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
Phrases such as “earnestly I seek”, “my soul thirsts”, “my flesh faints”, are all quite descriptive of a thirsty soul. David, even expressed the intensity of his thirst to know God, as if he were in a parched land, similar to having been in a desert [barren land; “a dry and thirsty land”]. A man or woman without a knowledge of the true God in their lives is described in the book of Ephesians 4:17-18.
The Voice
Ephesians 4:17-18
17 Therefore, as a witness of the Lord, I insist on this: that you no longer walk in the outsiders’ ways—with minds devoted to worthless pursuits. 18 They are blind to true understanding. They are strangers and aliens to the kind of life God has for them because they live in ignorance and immorality and because their hearts are cold, hard stones.
Ephesians 4:17-18 (CEB)
17 So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, 18 and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts.
Ephesians 4:17-18 (Amplified Bible)
17 So this I say, and solemnly affirm together with the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls], 18 for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart.
Jesus Christ is the manna(the true bread of life) from Heaven, who came to satisfy and supply man’s spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst.
We must partake of Jesus the living bread daily. The world may bake what they call “Wonder Bread”, but Jesus Christ is the true WONDER BREAD of Heaven.
In Acts 17:11 the disciplined followers of Paul searched the scriptures daily to confirm f and establish, within (and for) themselves the accuracy of what they had been taught.
Jesus referred to Himself as the bread of life. Natural bread may supply some physical sustenance, one which is limited in its supply. but Jesus, the true bread of heaven supplies an unlimited supernatural sustenance.
The Bread from Heaven
John 6:22-35
New King James Version
22 On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except [a]that one [b]which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone— 23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks— 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not
labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Job esteemed the words of God more important than his necessary(physical) food. (Job 23:12)
Jesus Christ is our eternal (or everlasting) thirst quencher.
Psalm 42:1-2 (KJV)
1 As the deer pants after the water brooks,
so my soul pants after You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and appear before God?
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
1 As a deer gets thirsty for streams of water,
I truly am thirsty for you, my God.
2 In my heart, I am thirsty for you, the living God.
When will I see your face?
Contemporary English Bible (CEB)
Just like a deer that craves streams of water,
my whole being[c] craves you, God.
2 My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
Similarly, if a person endeavored to wander through the “desert of their lives” without God, and without hope, they could become overwhelmed as a result of the dire circumstances that they were exposed to. They would quickly discover that they didn’t/don’t have the capacity within their own selves to sustain their own existence.
It is therefore foolish and outright impossible for a person to live a godly and a fulfilled life without Jesus Christ the bread of life and the everlasting supplier of living water. How many live an unfulfilled and “dehydrated” life?
As the psalmist said in Psalm 42, as a deer pants for water, he too panted for the living God, Who is a fountain of unlimited source of supply (Jeremiah 2:13).
Jeremiah 2:13 (CEV)
13 You, my people, have sinned in two ways—
you have rejected me, the source of life-giving water,
and you’ve tried to collect water in cracked and leaking pits
dug in the ground.
A parched(dry) soul is a soul in crisis, it’s absent of life and indicative of a soul that has abandoned or neglected the resources of a loving Father. He’s a Father, who withholds no good thing from His own, to them who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)
The unlimited resources of Heaven are always readily available to us if we “position” ourselves to receive and utilize them.
A parched(dry) soul is one that is dry (dried out as a result of extreme heat as in a desert, and extremely thirsty). Many have discovered that no matter how much worldly acclaim or success they may have achieved in this world, they have yet still far too often found themselves to be as a dried-out grape dying on the vine. Their souls empty and depleted of all joy or satisfaction, longing for a true lasting fulfillment which can only be found in Jesus Christ. How many stories have we’ve heard regarding drug addicted athletes, entertainers, business leaders; even some who have been driven to suicide?
In Jeremiah 17:6 ”heath in the desert” refers to a person who trusts in their own strength and not in God, likening them to a barren, and unuseful shrub in a desolate environment.
A person can most certainly become spiritually dry or barren, and need their soul restored or refreshed. (Psalm 23:3)
Psalm 77:2
Modern English Version
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out and does not weary,
my soul refuses to be comforted.
John 7:37-39
New International Version
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival [Feast of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Jesus, himself referred to the spirit that was to come on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:4, as living water [water of life, life-giving] He said that rivers of living water would flow from within the born-again believer. Therefore, there is no need for the born-again one to live in a dry desert of despair and defeat.
A soul without God is alienated [separated, cut off] from the life-giving spirit of God.
A hungry and thirsty soul Jesus can fill, or refill. As the psalmist said open wide thy mouth and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10
Have you ever awakened in the morning, or in the middle of the night & realized you were thirsty and that you were parched? That your physical body desired water.
Medical professionals provide varied lists of physical symptoms of a lack of water (or of a person having an insufficient amount of water intake). Likewise, there are varied “spiritual symptoms” of lacking an adequate amount of spiritual food or living water. Jesus pointed out that man’s existence was far more than one’s need for physical food. (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4)
One’s own spiritual vitality is not based upon what you eat or drink, but upon the life-giving power of the gift of holy spirit, and the eating of and meditation upon the scriptures, that Jesus himself referred to as the word of life. Both the Word of God (written and/or spoken) are life-giving. The scripture’ Hebrews 4:12, tells us the word of God is living (quick, alive) and powerful. Jesus said, the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life. (John 6:63).
Hebrews 4:12
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the [a]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (CJB)
12 See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.
After one of Jesus’ long journeys, Jesus became physically fatigued, weary and thirsty, and he desired a drink from a well.
John 4:5-15 (NKJV)
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said 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.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 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.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Similarly, today, there are people all around us that have become weary and thirsty in their souls, and are suffering because they have not yet eaten or drank from the “fountain (or well spring) of life, the living Word of God, nor yet received the eternal source of life the gift of holy spirit.
A dry soul needs refreshing, restoration Psalm 23:3. Jesus is the restorer and refresher of our souls. It’s through the living water of the Spirit of God that souls (minds, wills, and emotions) are restored and refreshed.
There’s an old song with a lyrical phrase, ”I can’t get no satisfaction”. That may certainly be the case in the natural realm, but does not need to be so in one’s own spiritual life.
We are to eat and drink until we are fully satisfied. This is true when eating a meal as well as spiritually. That is a major reason why there are varied levels of spiritual growth among believers.
Some “just desire” the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2) and others desire to reach their full spiritual maturity, which is referred to as receiving and eating the meat of the Word.
1 Peter 2:2
Contemporary English Version
2 Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved.
Spiritually minded “infants” (babes in Christ, newly converted) drink the milk of the Word, and as they grow and mature, they progress from the milk (spiritually immature) stage to the meat (spiritually mature) stage in their walk with the Lord. It is not our Father’s desire that we spiritually remain in a life-long infancy stage of our spiritual walk with Him.
Some believers (Christians) are satisfied with remaining at the spiritual milk stage their entire lives’ yet others are not satisfied unless they are continually are ingesting and digesting the spiritual meat of the Word.
Jesus, himself as a child continued to grow in wisdom and spiritual stature before God and man. He desired (thirsted to do his Father’s will) at all times. John 8:29 It is recorded in Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart”.
We are to become rooted and grounded in the present truth of our administration. ??? It is available for the spiritual eyes of our understanding to be enlightened. (Ephesians 1:17) We are not to spend our lives walking(living) as the world does. It is the spiritually mature that can live out such scriptures as Philippians 2:13.
13 For it is [not your strength, but it is] [a]God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13 AMP
God will continually REVITALIZE you, implanting within you the PASSION to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 TPT
For God is working in you, giving you the DESIRE and the power to do what pleases Him. Philippians 2:13 NLT
Paul instructed his spiritual son Timothy, to give himself wholly to the scriptures, to the end that his spiritual growth and maturity would be evident to others.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
Amplified Bible
12 Let no one look down on [you because of] your youth, but be an example and set a pattern for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in [moral] purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to public reading [of Scripture], to preaching and to teaching [the sound doctrine of God’s word]. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, [that special endowment] which was intentionally bestowed on you [by the Holy Spirit] through prophetic utterance when the [a]elders laid their hands on you [at your ordination]. 15 Practice and work hard on these things; be absorbed in them [completely occupied in your ministry], so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself [concentrate on your personal development] and to your teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
The Passion Translation
12And don’t be intimidated by those who are older than you; simply be the example they need to see by being faithful and true in all that you do. Speak the truth and live a life of purity and authentic love as you remain strong in your faith.
13So until I come, be diligent in devouring the Word of God, be faithful in prayer, and in teaching the believers.
14Don’t minimize the powerful gift that operates in your life, for it was imparted to you by the laying on of hands of the elders and was activated through the prophecy they spoke over you. 15Make all of this your constant meditation and make it real with your life so everyone can see that you are moving forward. 16Give careful attention to your spiritual life and every cherished truth you teach, for living what you preach will release salvation inside you and to all those who listen to you.
In 2 Samuel 23:15 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” Bethlehem means “house of bread”.
As David at one time expressed his DESIRE for a drink of that “good water” from the well of Bethlehem. May we also, DESIRE that “good water”(NLT) from the inner residing well within our souls of Holy Spirit(well-spring) of life.
What mortal man could possibly know just how many times people have cried out to God for a drink from the “well” of eternal life? Cries such as, “I wish that someone would help me, save my soul, likewise as similarly recorded in the Psalms; for I hunger and thirst for God, the living God”. Psalm 42:2
Psalm 107:8-10
Amplified Bible
8
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His wonderful acts to the children of men!
9
For He satisfies the parched throat,
And fills the hungry appetite with what is good.
How hungry and thirsty are we for the things of the living God?