Do You Need a Drink of Water?

When seasons of trials come in my life (whether hard and heavy ones, or the relentless little ones that seem to piggy-back upon one another) it's plain exhausting. It is physically, emotionally, and spiritually taxing. At these times, my whole being pants for rest.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2

This is true for me right now. Even though I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I am not so spiritually, because I daily prepare for it. Whether I'm in a trial or not, whether one is on the horizon or I find myself neck-deep in one, I prepare myself daily to remain spiritually satisfied and satiated - I go and meet with God.

When I face trials my mind somehow relates myself to that of someone who is working hard and needs a refreshing drink of cold water. 

Imagine a hot day, you are working in the sun. You are feeling fatigued with muscles twitching, sweat dripping, heat radiating from your skin. A drink from an ice-cold cup of water with condensation dripping down the sides of the cup does wonders to relieve the intensity, doesn't it?! It is satisfying. The hotter and more intense the day, the sweeter and more satisfying that water is! 

That is how I view trials. That is how I view the trials in my life right now.

Of course seasons of trials are not fun. In fact, if I didn't know better, I most happily would do without them altogether. But, I do know better. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4. And so I embrace them as good and necessary...and training myself to "consider it all joy!"

Even though I know trials are inevitable; and that they are good and necessary for me, I most certainly and desperately need help to endure them well. By enduring them well, I mean in order for me to glorify God in it and not lose heart or hope. I cannot do this by myself and in my own strength and will-power. I need help. More than that, I require help. And thanks be to God that I have already been given that help in Jesus.

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. 

Jesus invites me to rest in Him. To find refuge in Him. To trust in His goodness and love. I must abide in Jesus (John 15:1-11), the Fountain of living water (Jeremiah 17:13). His Word tells me that I will not run dry during my long trials when I trust in Him, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8. 

During the seasons of drought in life (perhaps through the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, stress at work, illnesses, difficulties in parenting), I need not fear or become anxious, for the Lord will sustain me as I trust in Him. He will be faithful. He will give us that drink of water we are panting for. He will revive us according to His goodness. His cistern of living water does not run dry. Oh that we would drink deeply...deliberately...daily!

Just as the hotter the day, the more satisfying and sweeter that cold glass of water is to our taste, so it is true with the Lord. The harder and heavier the trial, the sweeter and more satisfying Jesus is to those who love Him and trust Him through it.

Jesus invitation: "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters..." Isaiah 55:1

And so I come...and am satisfied.

What about you? Are you in need of a drink of water today?