Fast Day 3: True Thirst

When we fast, we want to pay less attention to what we are giving up and more attention to God. We want our hunger and thirst for something physical to be replaced with a renewed hunger and thirst for something spiritual.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” She said, “How is it that You are asking a Samaritan woman for a drink?” Jesus replied, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is asking for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water … Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty, it will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said, “Give me this water so that I will not be thirsty.” From John 4: 7-15

Jesus characterizes true thirst as a completed thirst. A long drink of God’s living water will quench the thirst of our human and spiritual self. And more, it becomes an internal fountain of eternal life so that we will never be thirsty again for what is not true life.

Jesus adds to this analogy and asks us to keep coming, keep drinking and keep believing. Because then, from our innermost being a river of living water will flow, prompted by the Holy Spirit within us (John 7: 38-39).

How could you describe that true thirst that prompts you to drink?

David describes it in his psalm titled, The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God:

O God, You are my God. I shall seek You earnestly. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have sought You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. I will bless You as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with gravy and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips … my soul clings to You. Your right hand upholds me. From Psalms 63: 1-8

Even though we know we have the living water of eternal life as a source, we may still feel something is lacking, named or unnamed. Maybe we are just going through the motions, maybe we are letting a disappointment bring us down, maybe we just don’t seem to understand how we got to where we find ourselves and we don’t want to be there. A true thirst will prompt God to act within us and for us. All He asks is that we come, we seek and we ask. The results will be His fountain in us becoming a river.

How is the landscape of your life dry and weary?

Where do you need God to drench you with His love?

Where might this spiritual river of living water flow to, in your life?

Who could God place in your path to be drenched by His love through you?

Eternal Lord, quench my thirst and activate Your Spirit in me to flow into the lives of my family, my friends, my community and those people You have planned for me to meet at the well of Life. Amen.