For I will pour water on him who is thirsty

The fast food industry has spent millions, if not billions of dollars in research, seeking to find a taste that will bring the consumer back again, and again, and again. One well-known brand of chips for example, put out the challenge “I bet you can’t just eat one.” But the fast food industry does not have our best interests at heart! The widespread obesity, gives testimony to the negative effects of these campaigns.

And in the battle to become healthy, we have to re-train our palates and our appetite. To use a spiritual analogy and apply it to the physical, we read “No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5: 39). And if we want to re-train our palates and our appetites, then we need to push through against the old desires, until the desire for the new takes over. In particular, when we learn to eat healthy, we will not have the old intense craving for junk food.

As in the physical, so in the spiritual. The old, carnal appetites and habits do not die easily, and part of denying ourself and taking up our cross (Matthew 16:24), is learning to push through to the new spiritual disciplines, in order to develop intimacy with the Lover of our souls. In applying this to this morning’s verse form Isaiah 44:3, the Lord is telling us, that He responds to our spiritual thirst, and that He will pour spiritual water (i.e. the Holy Spirit) on we who are thirsty. And unlike the junk food industry, He does have our very, very best interest at heart. And from this side of the fence, I can say that I no longer have the old intense craving for the destructive old.

Father, You have promised that if I come to You in complete surrender day by day, then You will not only change my desires into healthy desires, but that You will make up for those parts that I cannot do without You (Philippians 2:12,13). Thank You for Your promise that I will never thirst again like I did when You brought me to the end of myself (John 4:13). And I can truly say this morning Lord, that the new is better in Jesus Name Amen