Invitation to the Thirsty

Have you ever been really, really thirsty?
I mean like, ‘I’m going to die if I don’t get some water in my cotton dry mouth in the next 5 seconds,’ thirsty?

Some of you may be thinking, ‘yea, I’ve needed a drink before.  Last Thursday I could really use a margarita.’

This is not the thirst I’m talking about.  I’m talking about running a marathon without drinking any water for 2 days before and all throughout the race.  So thirsty it’s like torture.

I have been almost that thirsty before.  It happened on a hot afternoon in Las Vegas this summer.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, but man it makes for a great illustration now.  I wasn't even working out or anything, it was just so dry and my lips wanted nothing more than water, sweet, clear, refreshing water.

Tonight the chapter I found to read in my Bible was entitled Invitation to the Thirsty.  The title alone got me thinking about the concept of being thirsty.  This passage is an invitation for all who are thirsty to come and drink even if they have no money to pay for their drink.  This could be taken literally as an example of service we can have to other, or it can be taken as a metaphor for drinking in the person of Christ free of charge.  Both- good points.

I was thinking more along the lines of thirsting after Jesus when the realization of the severity of the word thirst hit me.  I’ve heard several times about hungering after Jesus and to be honest I’m not sure many of us (especially me) can really relate to being really, really hungry.  But I’ve been really, really thirsty before.  I’ve been so thirsty that all I can think about, all I can talk about and all of my energies are spent on finding water.

Is that the kind of pursuit Christ is asking for from us?

Not to much later, in that same chapter of Isaiah (chap 55-by the way) it says, “…it will not return to me empty...”  Is that referring to the drink that is being offered?  I think it just might.  When we are thirsty and have nothing to give in exchange for a drink, a drink is offered to us and to go one step further, that drink does exactly what it sets out to accomplish, it does not return empty-it quenches whatever thirst we might have.

This seemingly insignificant illustration of being thirsty accomplishes feats too big for me to even imagine, if only we would quench our thirst.