Frontline Devotion for Sunday, April 2, 2006 by Brenda Kessler

Isaiah 55:1-5

Have you ever been desperately thirsty?

Many, many years ago my mother had major surgery.   Patients were handled much differently post-operatively then than they are today.  For several days mother had doctor’s orders that read “Bed rest. Nothing by mouth.”  She became very, very thirsty…desperately thirsty.  When nobody was in the room she took out the flowers in a vase of flowers sitting on the bedside stand next to her bed and drank the water that remained.  She was desperate, very desperate.  In spite of her “misdeed” - and maybe even because of it - she recovered.

Today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah begins like this, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…”

The idea of thirst appears fairly often in the Bible.  In Psalm 42 verse 2 we read,” My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”  In Psalm 63 verse 1 we read, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you…”

Jesus answers spiritual thirst in John 4:14 of the New Testament this way “…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”  And again in John 7: 37, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”

Jesus himself knew what it meant to be desperately thirsty.  Two of the few words that he uttered as he hung on the cross were “I thirst.” (John 19:28 The New English Bible) Very probably Jesus was thirsty, desperately thirsty.

During this season of Lent, as we ponder Jesus’ sacrifice for us, let us remember that we do not have to become desperately thirsty to drink the living water that has been offered to us by Jesus.  Jesus became desperately thirsty FOR us.  He became desperately thirsty so that we can be nourished with living water, his water, BEFORE we become desperate.  Drink…drink from the cup of living water.

Prayer : Dear God, thank you for your Son, Jesus, who became desperately thirsty for me.  Help me always to drink of your living water and to share that drink with others.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

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