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I am thirsty (22 June)

The thought this week was written by John Goddard, Minister at Saffron Walden Baptist Church and EBA trustee

‘As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.’ (Psalm 42:1-2)

‘I am thirsty.’ (Jesus – John 19:28)

Last week’s EBA Ministers’ Conference was excellent. It was great to be back together again, and much as I enjoyed last year’s gathering in the Thetford Forest rainstorm it was lovely to be blessed with sunny weather.

On the Friday morning I had to slip away early to head to Manchester to visit my Mum in hospital. I followed the SatNav directions which took me to the M25 and then north on the M1. And somewhere near Northampton we ground to a halt… Not one of those minor delays where traffic bunches up and you wonder why the lane you chose not be in always moves quicker than yours? But a full blown everything stopped, engines off, windows open, ‘relax, you’re going to be here a while’ major delay. After checking with The AA Traffic website and realising no one was going anywhere for a while I decided to join others cautiously seeking shade from the intense heat, and stepped out of the car – dimly aware that this probably broke all manner of rules in the Highway Code but increasingly desperate for a drink! I thought I had a bottle of water in the boot of the car, but no… There was half a bottle of an excellent Ardbeg Islay malt, but despite its refinement and expense it was no use whatsoever for cooling down on a hot day! I was thirsty, and I had no way of quenching that thirst.

I love the poetry of Psalm 42 as the Psalmist reflects on their desire for God being like an overwhelming thirst. I watch deer on a regular basis – especially Fallow deer at Fowlmere RSPB Reserve. They never appear thirsty! They use the waterways through the reedbeds as safe tracks to grazing, paddling gently or occasionally splashing vigorously in the water around the mere. But the Psalmist imagines the wild deer in more arid climes, seeking out the scarce water supplies and longing for the flowing streams that would quench their thirst. And the Psalmist identifies with that desire as they live with the disappointment and fears that have somehow separated them from God, and remembers how it was to lead the throng in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving…’ (Psalm 42:4) And the Psalmist thirsts for an encounter with the presence of God once more.

‘Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.’ (Psalm 42:5) Thirst signals an urgent absence, but also points us towards the solution. We know what we need!

One of my favourite Saturday afternoon films of years gone by was John Mills and Sylvia Syms in Ice Cold in Alex – a wartime adventure where the hostile desert must be crossed despite dangers without and within, in order to reach the safety of Alexandria. And John Mills’ character holds a promise before the group, that when they reach Alex he knows a bar where the lager is cold and crisp… Look it up on YouTube, the scene became famous (even being used as an advert by Carlsberg when they noticed what lager was being drunk…) as the four of them sit at the bar and watch four bottled beers being inexpertly poured, and savour the thirst quenching coldness – the promise kept – the journey over.

If we have a thirst like that for God we should know where the streams of living water flow, in the gathering for worship where we encounter the God of hope who is our help. And if we have lost that thirst – if we have learnt to make do with tepid water from the puddles of remembered encounters – then may God create within us a thirst that drives us to seek God again with all that we are and all that we have. Amen?

For me on the M1 last week salvation came in the most unlikely of guises. My salvation came from above! I heard a voice talking to me and looked up to see a trucker in a huge rig who had clearly seen me rummaging in the boot. And he reached into the fridge by his seat and passed me a can of Fanta. My thirst was quenched, and eventually my journey continued, but my gratitude to my generous trucker remains!