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He Leads Me Beside Still Waters
Brian Mashburn
February 19, 2012
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From Where Do You Drink?
One of the very few universal needs of not just human beings, but every living thing, is water.
Your body knows this and signals its need for it with something we call thirst. When you thirst, it is physically and scientifically needing water.
We can, however, quench thirst without water. Not forever, of course, and not without consequences, but nevertheless, people can drink sugar drinks, carbonated stuff, or other syrupy concoctions that satisfy the body's thirst, but not the body's need.
This is a perfect mirror of our spirit. Our spirit needs God. It needs the endlessness of God. The purpose, the love, the forgiveness, the life, the passion, and the guidance that comes from nowhere else but God.
We can, however, quench our spiritual thirst without God. Not forever, of course, and not without consequences, but nevertheless, people quench spiritual thirst with careers, philosophy, education, art, travel, socializing, and all sorts of indulgences of the flesh. None bring peace, mind you. They quench a thirst temporarily, but they do not satisfy the spirit's need for God, which brings restful peace.
David says that it is God who "leads me beside quiet waters." (Psalm 23:2). Jesus picked this up when he said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37)