God Is

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Day 1

God Thirst

Spotlight Verse:

God, you are my God. I search for you. I thirst for you like someone in a dry, empty land where there is no water.Psalm 63:1 NCV

We thirst for God. Across time, across cultures:

Israel, 1000 B.C.

The Hebrew King David sings, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1–2a)

North Africa, 400 A.D.

The Roman author Augustine writes: “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.”³

Paris, France, 1600 A.D.

French mathematician Blaise Pascal observes: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”⁴

Vancouver, British Columbia, 1994 A.D.

Post-modern Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland concludes his book Life After God:

My secret is that I need God — that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.⁵

Four continents. Three millennia. Same longing. It’s a universal desire, crossing all boundaries of time and geography: We thirst for God. You’re dry without Him, soul-parched.

But God doesn’t just want to give you a drink. God wants to get you drenched.

Run Through The Sprinklers

Remember how great it felt when you were a kid, and on a hot summer day you’d run through the sprinklers? It was fun to get totally soaked.

The Apostle Paul has an intriguingly liquid description of what it’s like to know God. He tells the Ephesians that he prays for them to “know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19)

The phrase he uses, “filled to the measure of all the fullness,” conjures pictures of a cup overflowing with cool drink, or a piece of dirty cloth saturated with cleansing water. Or a kid racing through sprinklers. It means to be soaked in God.

Doesn’t that sound good to you?

I’ve been soaked in anger.

I’ve been soaked in lust.

I’ve been soaked in sorrow and soaked in worries.

Now I long to be soaked in God, to be immersed in thoughts of His love and power and presence. I want to be dripping wet.

It’s interesting that Paul prays this specifically for the Ephesian Christians, of all people. The Bible says they were a church known for their hard work, their good deeds — but they had fallen away from their first love (see Revelation 2). They had apparently lost their child-like delight in their Father’s affection. Their faith was parched and dry.

But Paul doesn’t lecture or scold them. Instead he prays for them to get filled to the brim. To be saturated with wonder. Immersed in love.

They needed a good soaking.

Get Drenched

If you’ve ever longed to be closer to your Creator…

If you’ve ever wondered if God loves you (or still loves you, after what you’ve done)…

If you’ve felt lately like there is something vital missing from your spiritual life…

It’s time to get drenched.

As you continue in this study, spend some quality time running through the sprinklers each day.

How to Make It Immersive

Use This Book with The Book: I strongly encourage you to keep a Bible right next to this book, and read those passages daily. That will change a quick devotional time into a real refreshing soaking. If you don’t have a Bible, you can get one free at a local church, download free Bible apps, or use the free on-line Bibles at sites like www.biblegateway.com.
Use This Book with Music: There is just something about good music that turns theology into experience. I put a suggested soundtrack to this study in the back of this book. Make some of these songs into a playlist on your iPod or CD player. Soak in it throughout these 50 days.
Use This Book with Others: After each day’s readings there are questions to help you interact with the material. Keep a notebook nearby to record your answers. If you can, share your responses with others: Friends, family, small group members. You can use the discussion starter videos on our web site (www.tlc.org/GodIs). To help, there are small group guides at the back of the book.

The point is, immerse yourself in God-thoughts. And mull those thoughts over throughout the day.

The really great news is this: You have a God-thirst precisely because there is a God who wants to pour Himself into your life. If you open yourself to Him, it will happen! Expect to be filled to the brim with all the fullness of God!

God is… ready to get you soaked!