“He said, ‘I thirst,’ – yet, He made the rivers…”

It’s hard to comprehend how the One who spoke everything into existence would ever want for anything…especially something simple like water.  Yet, we see that there upon the cross, He thirsted for that which He desired most – You and I.

So far, we have looked at three different songs that speak of how we thirst.  (There Is A River, There’s Only One Way, and Weary at the Well.)  Some of those have been quite lengthy posts too!  So, I’m hoping to sum up our thoughts on water, wells and rivers with a message short and sweet!   This passage of Scripture is well known to Believers, but the meaning found in a little Greek word changed my whole view of the words, “I thirst” completely.  Let’s take a look at how Jesus Christ thirsted…

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” – John 19:28

If you’d like to read the whole passage, feel free to do so, but for our purpose I just quoted one verse because I know ya’ll know the story.  Physically, the words “I thirst” spoke of our Lord’s thirst He experienced on the cross.  But the Greek verb ‘Dipso’ points to something deeper.
Dr. Malcolm White says this in his book, Seven Words of Love…

“The Greek verb ‘Dipso’ is in the present tense suggesting continuous action.  ‘I keep on thirsting.’  On the Cross Jesus was physically thirsty.  He was also spiritually thirsty, for lost souls, and he will keep on thirsting as long as there is one soul who still does not believe.”

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. White – for it says in 1 Timothy 2:4 (speaking of Christ), “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”  Our Savior thirsts for everyone to come to Him.  Yet, I do believe that after salvation, He desires to have a continual, every day relationship with us.  I was reading a commentary on Psalms the other day by J. Vernon McGee, and thought this quote was appropriate…

“My friend, God has a longing for you.  Do you respond to that?  It is awful to live with a person who does not express his love.  Marriage is not an arrangement whereby a woman gets a living and a man gets a cook.  Marriage is a love relationship; if it is not that, it isn’t anything.  Our relationship to God should be like that.”

Ouch!  If our relationship with God isn’t like that…it isn’t anything.  That’s what McGee implied.  Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes me think about what my relationship with the Lord is really like.  Probably not where it should be.  But with the dawn of every morning there is another opportunity to change that!  “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”  – Lamentations 3:21-23

Dr. Malcolm White also reminds us…
“Jesus’ cry, ‘I thirst’ reveals the depths that Jesus was willing to suffer in order that He might be to His people the water of everlasting life.”

So the question remains, He thirsts for us…will we thirst for Him?

Works cited (in the order they appear)
Dr. Malcolm White, Devotional: Seven Words of Love (Port Colborne, ON Canada: Gospel Folio Press, 2008), 66.
J. Vernon McGee, Biblical Reference: Psalms Chapters 1-41 (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991), 156.
Dr. Malcolm White, Devotional: Seven Words of Love (Port Colborne, ON Canada: Gospel Folio Press, 2008), 67.