Today's Scripture Reading (September 15, 2025): Psalm 42
I met my wife at college.
Both of us were from places that were almost half a continent away from the
college, so we both lived in the dorm. However, when summer came, it meant we
were going home to places thousands of kilometers away from each other.
Actually, at the beginning of the summer, Nelda was on tour with a musical
group before she made her way home; I, on the other hand, just went home. Later
in the summer, I made plans to go and visit her at her home. We hadn't seen
each other for a couple of months, which made our reunion all the more exciting.
I was making the trip to her
home by car, which meant taking a ferry from the mainland to the island where
her family lived. However, the night before I was scheduled to make the trip, I
couldn't sleep. I just wanted to see Nelda. So, in the middle of the night, I
got up and dressed, packed my car, and left for the West Coast.
Most of us know what that
kind of anticipation is like. We are so excited for something that it consumes
us, and we just can't wait. Sometimes, a painful wait is all that we can do. In
those moments, a poet might look at us and say that we are hungry or thirsty
for something. There is a very real difference between those two states, and
hungering for something might be the better description. Hunger is painful, but
the reality is that you can survive for a significant period of time without
eating. Several years ago, a friend recommended a movie to me about the life of
adventurer Chris McCandless. It was my friend's favorite movie, but I have to
admit that I found the life of McCandless depressing. If you aren't acquainted with
the end of the McCandless story, he dies of starvation, although it seems
McCandless believed that he had accidentally poisoned himself. Experts believe
that McCandless died of hunger sometime in August 1992 at the age of 24, even
though he was eating; the problem was that he wasn't eating enough.
Dying of thirst is also
painful, but it happens more quickly. The body can go without food, or in the
McCandless example, without enough food, for weeks. But thirst will kill us in
a matter of a few days. Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) adds this thought: the use of the word thirst reveals an even more urgent need, "Which is more than
hungering; hunger you can palliate [alleviate], but thirst is awful,
insatiable, clamorous, [and] deadly" (Charles Spurgeon).
David says that
his desire for God is like a thirst. His passion is insatiable, and all he
wants is to find a place where he can commune with God. It is a longing that we
all should share, never getting enough of God and always wanting more. Like a
thirst, we should always seek God, knowing that we need his presence on a daily
basis. Time spent without God can only weaken us and leaves us closer to death.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 43
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