Thirsty.

I cannot get enough water tonight.  I am going to have pee like a racehorse tomorrow morning, (did you know that that phrase comes from the fact that people used to give horses diuretics, which caused them to pee profusely?  Well, now you do.  I always wondered where that phrase came from.  The internet is a beautiful thing.  Who knows if it's really true...)

I searched "water" in BibleGateway while I waited for my dad to bring me a water bottle (very uneco-friendly & slightly health-risky, but I refill them...).  Do you know how many times it's mentioned in the Bible?  617!  I was like, "Whoa.  People in Bible times were thirsty too, apparently."  Maybe it's because they lived in a desert.  (As a small side note here, can I just say how thankful I am for clean, running, drinking water?  If I had to put my water in skin, I would barf.  And it would probably get hot.  Ugh.  I know that one day our water resources aren't going to be what they are today...I find myself praying (quite often, actually) that wars over it don't come too quickly.)

One of my favorite verses was this one: 

"He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed like a river in the desert."
- Psalm 105:41

I believe what the author is referring to (David, who wrote the book of Psalms...), is the time when Moses touched his staff to a rock, and water started bubbling out.  I think it is quite fitting to feel out what the bigger picture might be in this verse, even though it comes in a very descriptive chapter that includes tons of Israelite history.  (105 lists some pretty cool stuff.)

I can't think of how many times I have felt so thirsty in my life - physically and spiritually.  When my family & I lived in El Paso, I can remember being in the desert, and whining to no end.  We were probably out there for, like, 20 minutes, but when we got back to the car, our gallon of water was warm.  : }  And then there was the time at Six Flags...I was probably 8 or 9, and my sisters drank the rest of the water bottle, and I thought I was going to cry.  The vendors giving out free water (with ICE!) had never seen a more grateful recipient.

I've also allowed my heart to be dehydrated during times where I've felt ashamed to be open and honest with God, and refused to drink what he offered me.  I have wandered in the desert for long periods of time, where water has been scarce.  But what I am so thankful for is the fact that when I allow the truths I find in Scripture to permeate deep down into the dry, brittle cracks in my heart, I feel my thirst quenched.  My heart softens, gooey & mud-like with water, and becomes more palpable & pliable; it becomes easier for God to mold it and shape it.

I feel like there have been so many times in my life where I've been in the desert, and I've sat down on a hot rock, my sweat pouring down, and God opens up a small brook for me to drink from.  I look at my life now, and my heart feels so full; like a water pitcher in the summer, with condensation pooling all around its glassy sides, droplets joining together to run away from the rest. 

Psalm 105:1-3
"Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
   make known among the nations what he has done.
 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
   tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. "

Thank you for water, oh God!  I'm so thankful that God has provided a way for our perpetual thirstiness to be quenched.  And, it can only be quenched through Jesus. 

"Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water [he was sitting by a well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4:13&14

Sound a little fountain-of-youthesque?  It's not.  Because it's not a myth.  I've tasted it, and it is the sweetest water you will ever drink.  He truly is the Living Water.