In northern Chile rests a place so dry, that it has been used by NASA to test instruments for future Mars missions. Mars on earth is the Atacama Desert, also known as the driest place on earth. A small number of organisms can live within its expanse, but certain parts are completely uninhabitable.

It almost never rains in the Atacama. Some researchers believe that there was not any “significant” rainfall between 1570 to 1971. In other words, if you thought your hands were dry after all that hand washing to prevent COVID-19, this desert puts the definition of dry into perspective.

Here in Pennsylvania, we live in what is classified as a humid continental climate with hot humid summers and cold winters. Seldom is our soil arid. In fact, I think we here in Southeastern PA must have received about ten times the amount of rainfall this past week than the Atacama has in decades!

This area is one with streams of fresh, natural spring water travelling through blossoming, early-spring banks. Fishing is one of my favorite springtime activities and while I love the thrill of getting a hit on my line, it’s a great excuse to spend an afternoon outside soaking in the beauty of creation.

When streams run dry, however, life itself is not far behind. Those living near the Atacama know this well. It will only be a matter of days till the living beings that once depended on the water source shrivel up just like the cracked soil where life giving water once flowed.

During certain seasons of our lives, a similar dehydration takes place deep within us. Where vigorous life once dwelled now sits a dusty pile of bones. The things we once looked to for significance and pleasure disappear.

In this time of uncertain quarantine, most of our lives have drastically changed. We’re scared. We’re frustrated. We’re bored! In all of it, there is an overwhelming sense of drought. People are literally dying around us. Jobs are being lost. The greenery of our lives is being replaced with brown decay. It’s starting to feel like we’re in the middle of the Atacama.

But it’s in the driest times that we can sometimes see the clearest. We see what really matters and what our real needs are when the things we once thought we needed no longer exist. As things evaporate, our thirst intensifies, and along with it, the search to quench our parched soul.

King David of ancient Israel knew this quest well.

 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

On multiple occasions in scripture including this specific verse, David writes of a cotton-mouth soul. The focus of his searching does not change amidst the shifting circumstances of his writing. He thirsts for God and that thirst leads him to seek God “earnestly.” Just like a dehydrated person seeking water.

But why? Why did David seek God in this way? Undoubtedly, David experienced equal to, if not more than the amount of grief and “dehydration” that every human being throughout history has faced. What made Him seek God and why does it matter for us?

David’s description of God here contains a truth that is easy to overlook but too profound to ignore. Hundreds of years later, this truth would be shared with a large group of Israelites, Samaritans and other people groups who in hearing it were polarized.

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.’” John 7:37

Jesus Christ, a carpenter from Galilee, was not offering the people at the feast free Dixie cups of water on a hot day. He spoke in the same metaphoric vein as David. Yet here, Jesus proclaimed to be the God David thirsted for all those years ago. By equating himself with water, Jesus said that apart from knowing Him, all men were dead and as dry as a desert.

Sandwiched between these numerous statements (see references below!) were miracles that also fulfilled prophecies about the one God would send to make an atonement for sins. Jesus matched the description during every stage of His life. Yet tragically, as Jesus tells the crowd in John 6:36 “But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.”

Was it just Jesus’ miracles that made Him water to those who believe in Him?

No.

What makes Jesus indispensable is that He is the only one who can pay the penalty for our sins. We can’t right our wrongs before God. We can’t ignore Him and make the price for our sins go away saying He doesn’t exist. Each one of us needs Jesus more than we need our next glass of water.

When we recognize that we are indeed a sinner deserving hell for our rebellion against God, then we can truly begin to understand why Jesus is like water to us. It was His death that satisfied God’s required payment for our sin.

“For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin (Jesus), so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

In every calamity, many are brought to a place of deep despair. Blind hope that things will soon get back to normal offers fake refreshment that we can see through. Real security is knowing that whether the worst case scenario happens or not, my soul’s needs are covered.

So, whether you’re feeling like your world is the Atacama or a luscious green meadow right now, I pray that you’ll drink deeply of the water only Jesus provides through His death and resurrection. It’s virus proof. It’s war proof. It’s even death proof.

 

Scripture References:

Isaiah 55:1 – “Come everyone who thirsts…”

John 7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink…”

John 6:35 – “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst…”

Psalm 42:2 – “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God…”

Psalm 63:1 – “My soul thirsts for you…”

Psalm 143:6 – “My soul thirst for you like a parched land…”

John 4:13 – “Whoever drinks of the water I give will never thirst again…”

Revelation 21:6 – “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment…”

Revelation 22:16 – “Let the one who is thirsty come…”