Drink Water!

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6.

I've been reading Matthew 5-7 again recently, and this verse in particular stuck out to me. It compares wanting God to being hungry and thirsty, and as I was thinking about this, I realized that the analogy goes quite a ways. (Maybe that's because Jesus came up with it...?) In particular, I think this analogy applies to our need for the Word of God-- the Bible.

Recently, I spoke with a friend about reading the Bible. We talked about how learning to read it regularly is like staying hydrated. There came a point where I stopped talking to my friends and started talking to myself. It's so easy to fall away in this area.

When I was younger, Mom used to get on my case constantly about drinking water. I would forget to drink, and I wouldn't feel thirsty. The conversation would go like this:

Mom: "Rachel, you need to drink water."
Me: "I'm not thirsty."
Mom: "When was the last time you had some water?"
Me: ".... Um..... I don't remember......"
Mom: "That's why you're not thirsty"

You see, when I do not drink enough water, soon, I just stop feeling thirsty. And because I don't feel thirsty, I don't think I need water. But even though I do not feel thirsty, my body needs water, more than before. And the funny thing is, I don't know I'm thirsty until I drink some water.

This similar to the Word of God.

When I don't read the Bible for two or three days, I don't feel weird, or bad. I do not feel thirst for Bible. I find it easy to forget. I just don't feel thirsty. But I've noticed that when I do not read it for a while, I start to act differently. I treat people differently and respond to stress and frustration differently. I do not "feel bad", but I need the Word of God more than before!

But when I read the Bible every day, I feel the need for God. I have a thirst for the Word of God. The more regularly I read it, the easier it is to find time to do it, because I feel the necessity of it. When I read regularly, and "stay hydrated" with the Word, I feel the benefits.
When we ask how to hunger and thirst for God, the answer is this: when I read the Bible regularly, soon, I have thirst, necessarily.

Now go drink some water!