The recent hot and dry weather in the UK has already prompted talk of drought and newspapers tell stories of previous heatwaves (in 2003, for example). It’s so unusual in England to have over a week of uninterrupted sunshine that this makes the news! People are unused to temperatures of 30 degress celsius and more and there is a sense of people wilting in the heat! Gardens are looking thirsty and the sale of water shoots up at such times.
In last night’s prayer meeting, we were praying for God to heal on every level: broken relationships, hurting bodies, troubled minds, crushed emotions. We long to see God heal and bring wholeness to individuals, to churches, to communities, to the nation, to our world. As we were praying, we were reminded not only of our own spiritual thirst but of God’s ability to provide water:
“You, God, are my God; earnestly I seek You; my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” (Ps 63:1 TNIV). Psalm 143:6 TNIV says “I spread out my hands to You; I thirst for You like a parched land.” This imagery is taken up in Aaron Shust’s new song ‘Satisfy’, which begins:
“In a dry and thirsty land
You are the water,
You are the water.
When I’m on my knees again,
Yours is the power,
Yours is the power.
When the battle weakens me
You will be my victory.
You supply my every need,
You supply my every need.” (‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust)
The answer to our thirst can only be met in God. Jesus said, ‘“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ (John 7:37-39 TNIV) Our prayer is for God to fill us with rivers of living water, to refresh our weary souls, to give us all that we need.
“So fill us with Your rest,
And fill us with Your Spirit,
And fill us with Your love.
Only You can satisfy.
So fill us with Your rest,
And fill us with Your Spirit,
And fill us with Your love.
Only You can satisfy.
Only You can satisfy.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need,
Jesus, only You can satisfy.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need in You.
I find everything I need,
Jesus, only You can satisfy.” (‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust)
‘Satisfy’, Aaron Shust