Our Constant Need for Hydration
Do you find yourself in a situation that has you feeling dry and dehydrated? A job that has unrealistic demands. An aging parent that requires constant care. A kid that has flown off the rails. You or a loved one with an ongoing health issue. The death of a spouse that created a crater-sized hole in your soul. An addiction. Finances. Maybe it is trying to process the ever-changing uncertain world around us.
You feel exhausted. You feel lost. You might have even lost a sense of who you are. The joy of life is only wishful thinking. Whether or not you find yourself in one of those situations, maybe today for whatever reason you are desperately in need of a drink to quench your thirst.
Dehydration is the absence of sufficient fluid (water) in our body. It occurs when we lose more fluid than we take in. We usually associate dehydration with excessive heat, but cold air can also lead to dehydration. When our body is dehydrated, it cannot function properly and causes serious health problems. Severe dehydration (15-25% loss of body water) can even lead to death. Some symptoms of dehydration are headaches, dizziness, tiredness, lack of appetite, flushed skin, high heart rate but low blood pressure, dark-colored urine.
Life, even when things are not necessarily hard, has a way of leaving our soul feeling dehydrated. Soul (spiritual) dehydration tends to leave us feeling fatigued, lonely, irritable. In those times we often fill our lives with busyness or noise, often simply to “hide” the empty feeling, the restlessness, the decreasing sense of peace.
There are a number of things we can change, begin doing, or stop doing, to hydrate our soul. But, for me, in those times of dehydration, before anything else works, I first need to take Jesus up on his invitation to come and drink. In John 7, Jesus travels to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He faces the possibility of arrest and there is much debate as to the legitimacy of his true Messiahship. It is in that context where Jesus offers this great invitation – On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (v.37).
Side note: The earliest Greek manuscripts do not have John 7:53-8:11. Using textual criticism, it is believed by many biblical scholars that these verses were inserted into John’s Gospel at some later date. The writing style of those verses differs from John’s typical style and the text flows well without those verses (meaning 7:52 then picked up at 8:12).
The invitation to drink comes freely to us, every time we need a drink. In Isaiah 55, the prophet describes the invitation of God to receive, among other things, restoration. We find these words in the first two verses – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”
And near the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:17, we are invited to “drink freely from the water of life.”
Today, when you feel dehydrated, when you are physically thirsty, pour yourself a glass of cold water and drink from it. And when your soul is thirsty, take Jesus up on His invitation, then drink and drink and drink from His cool and refreshing spring. It is at that peaceful stream that you will find life-giving hydration!
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