Devotion:
Let out a cry of desperation for the Lord our God! A longing for God comes from desperation for Him, His presence, His nearness, His will. In our culture today, our desperation is for our finances, our jobs, food, family, and friends. While we need those things very much, we prioritize our need for them over our need for Jesus.
In Psalm 42, we see a beautiful yet somber illustration of God as the water that David needs in the midst of tribulation. He is on the run from King Saul, driven away from the comfort of the kingdom, yet he doesn’t cry out for those comforts. In desperation, he cries out to his God. He speaks to his flesh and says, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” He cries out to his God because he knows that ultimately the Lord is the only thing he needs in the face of all of the hardship. Could this be tied to the cry that Jesus lets out in John 7:37-39?
Jesus cries out in desperation for the people around him. There is an invitation here for us to come and drink from the well that never runs dry. In all things, he is truly what we need. Our souls could never be satisfied by the things of the world, but only by Jesus, the living water.
Scripture:
“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’ As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long,
‘Where is your God?’ Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 42 ESV
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 7:37-39: 37 ESV
Prayer:
Lord, here we are, in desperate need of you. We open our hearts and our hands to you. Fill us with rivers of living water that overflow from you, the well of living water. Let our souls long for you. Let our thirst and hunger for you in all things increase. Make known to us the joy of our salvation, that in you we have everything. Father, if there is anything that has outweighed our desperation for you, let today be the day we lay these things at your feet. Let your waves of grace and mercy wash over us as you take us deeper into your presence. We speak to our souls and say, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” We lift our cups to you, Lord, and say, “Fill us with your living water.” In Jesus name, Amen.
Worship Song: Isaiah Song by Maverick City Music