From the beginning of time, people have been yearning for something bigger than themselves. For those who are blessed, they know that something bigger, or that higher power, is God. Others will look and strive for an ideal world, or an ideology that helps them live better or to lead their way. That is the THIRST within each human soul, imprinted as part of our human nature.
When we have something to look forward to, it gives us hope, but we are also bound to have expectations. God's chosen people had longed for a Saviour who would come in with great power and splendid glory, to meet their own expectation of what a Saviour should be like. But Jesus Himself, what He taught, and what happened to Him, disappointed them!
When what they had dreamed for shattered, and when Jesus eventually died on the Cross, disappointment sank deep into their hearts. They wondered, “What's next for me?”
Faced with disappointments either from the outside or from within, people react differently. Some choose to stop hoping, to let despair take over, and eventually give up. They give up on God, on the world, and some even on themselves, to the point of taking the Judas' way.
Some though, when faced with the reality of an empty tomb, remain hopeful because they have God's Word and His promises in their hearts. They know that what is humanly impossible is possible for God. When they encounter God again, they can move on with restored confidence both in God and in themselves. That is the Peter's and the Apostle's way.
Some choose, however, to give up hope on God, and pick up confidence only on themselves. They believe humans alone can solve all problems and be self-reliant. That God is not needed. Some go to the extreme, playing God by attempting to change the course God has set out for us. They want to decide everything for themselves … to the point of upsetting the natural laws that God has designed lovingly for His beloved creatures.
Indeed, God has given all of us the freedom to choose our way and our path. A free will given to us out of love. Yet, we need to understand that there are consequences for every decision we make.
Our attitude and our perception dictate our path… and the path we take dictate our destiny and where we will be headed eventually. Don't let our expectations of our own desired outcome blind us from seeing the true picture, the true solution, and the real God. Don't let our unrealistic views of the ideal world and an ideology in our mind blindfold us from making the right decision. God's way and what He hopes for in us, the virtues of faith, hope, love, humility, patience, and child-like dependence, are never in harmony with the human way to aim for self-reliance, pleasures, possessions, power, popularity, and so on. We need to choose one way or the other, and we need to thirst for the water that can truly quench our thirst.
Jesus said, “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) Only the living water from Christ can quench the deepest thirst in our hearts. What, then, is preventing us from flocking to Him to fill our void and to satisfy our souls? The fountain of the living water that we are waiting for is also waiting for us… It is He who is the “wait-er”!
