Lost and Thirsty for God

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." (Psalm 42:1)

Darkness breeds fear.  It takes away all the familiar things we know and we are lost.  We don’t know where we are; we exaggerate and distort our reality.  Darkness isolates us from the world that we are familiar with. 

In “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” (the third book of “The Chronicles of Narnia”) C. S. Lewis writes about darkness.  The Dawn Treader sails towards Dark Island; notice the name of the island.  As they get closer, what they thought was the island was actually a mist, but not a mist in the ordinary sense of the word.  Lewis writes, “It was a darkness.”  Lucy was standing on the “fighting top” of one of the masts and saw the exact moment when the ship entered into the darkness.  She whispers, “Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now.”  The darkness didn’t shrink, but Lewis writes that Lucy began to feel better.  Some other crewmember spots a beam of light that begins to light up the ship but not the darkness that surrounded the ship.  Lucy looks into the beam of light and sees an image emerging from the light.  “At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross.”   It lands on the prow of the ship that held the carved figurehead of a dragon.  The albatross calls out in a voice that on one could understand, except Lucy.  “’Courage, dear heart,’ and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.”

God doesn’t necessarily get rid of the darkness, but he joins us wherever we are, even in our darkness.  Jesus is Lord, in our darkness.  God doesn’t shrink when we begin a relationship with Him he expands.  Even in the times we are in darkness, God is there.  All we need to do is to call upon his name.    

Psalm 42 is a song about being lost, in darkness.  The Psalmists admits to being deeply "depressed," but he responds to his sadness in a weird way.  He starts the song with the picture of a thirsty deer looking for a stream. It might be easier for us to imagine a dog coming in from a long walk and heading straight for its water dish. The writer of the Psalm was thirsty for God like that dog was thirsty for that water.  He is needy and desperate for that cool water.

Thirst is such a powerful longing that it displaces all others.  Though the Psalmist longs for God’s help in the midst of physical thirst and danger, this metaphor also offers a profound spiritual image.  Our relationship with God is as essential to our spiritual health as water is to our physical health.

Think:

Do you ever feel like you’re trapped in darkness not knowing if you will continue to exist?  In your dark times do you ever feel like you need God so much that you hunger and thirst for Him?

Pray:

Ask God to be with you always, even in the times of darkness.  Look for that place in your heart that God inhabits.

Do:

Think about being needy for God in your soul next time you feel physically thirsty.

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART—Extra!

Here are some web sites about Haiti before and after the earthquake, check them out.

Before:

http://www.haiti-micah.org/haiti-facts.html

http://www.travelinghaiti.com/info/haiti-statistics.asp

After:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/16/haiti-earthquake-death-to_n_425939.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7024269/Haiti-earthquake-medics-warn-of-infection-risk-to-3-million-people.html

2. SURF REPORT

http://extraordinarymeasuresthemovie.com/

Check out this movie.  When you get to the web site be sure to look at the “About John Crowley,” and the “Inspirational Quilt” buttons.

Great movie, check it out.  

http://www.thebookofelimovie.net/

3. FORGETTABLE FACT

There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones!

The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year!

4. POTENT QUOTABLES

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.                                                           – Nelson Mandela - Nelson Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa before becoming the country's first black president. Mandela was a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), which opposed South Africa's white minority government and its policy of racial separation, known as apartheid. Mandela helped dismantle apartheid and form a new multi-racial democracy, and he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 F.W. de Klerk. Mandela was elected the country's president in 1994. He served until 1999, when his deputy Thabo Mbeki succeeded him. Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, was published in 1994.

The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear.
-- Gandhi – (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the Twentieth Cnetury. Gandhi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by his people as the father of the Indian Nation. The Indian people called Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul.

5. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

A man goes to the doctor and says, "Doc, you gotta check my leg.
Something's wrong.  Just put your ear up to my thigh, you'll hear it!"

The doctor cautiously placed his ear to the man's thigh only to hear: "Gimme
20 bucks, I really need 20 bucks."

"That's amazing!" exclaims the doctor.

"That's nothing, Doc. Put your ear to my knee."

The doctor put his ear to the man's knee and heard it say: "Man, I really
need 10 dollars, just lend me 10 bucks!"

The doctor was dumbfounded.  "Sir, I really don't know what to tell you.
I've never come across anything like this."

"Wait Doc, that's not all.  There's more, just put your ear to my ankle,"
the man urged.

The doctor did so and was blown away to hear his ankle plead: "Please, I
just need 5 dollars.  Only 5 bucks.  Please!!"

"I have no idea what to tell you," the doctor said.  He frantically searched
all his medical reference books.  "There's nothing about it in here."  The
doctor thought hard for a moment and then said, "Let me try to make a well
educated guess.  Based on all my previous experience, I can tell you this
much: your leg seems to be broke in three places."