Today is Thanksgiving! I wasn’t going to blog today because, well, it’s Thanksgiving. But, as I was having my quiet time with God, I found this verse, and wow! Have you ever read a verse and you feel like God put it there just for you, just for this season?
That’s what it was like as I read and studied Psalms 107:9 this morning, and I knew I had to share it with all of you. I love Psalms 107 because it is such a picture of God’s patience and goodness to us. If you read it, you can see how the psalmist is praising God that He rescued His people after they strayed from God – again.
I don’t know about you, but I, despite my best intentions, stray from God’s side, too. No matter how many times I’ve seen how foolish it is, like the Israelites, it is all too easy to allow idols to take up residence in my heart with their false offers of fulfillment. I often wonder why, when I know better, that is. I think Psalms 107:9 gives a key insight to that question.
Being the Bible nerd that I am, I decided to look up the key words in that verse, and I was surprised to find that the Hebrew word for thirsty, shaqaq, actually means, “to run, run about, rush, run to and fro, be eager or greedy.”
I know, right? It totally gives a new insight into this verse. If you look at the root of this word, it has this connotation of being desperate for something, to run and rush about looking desperately for something you crave or long for.
When I look at our world today, I see a lot of shaqaq going on. There are so many thirsty souls that are desperate for something they can’t seem to find no matter how much running to and fro they do.
Yet, that verse also tells us the answer to the problem. It tells us how to find fulfillment for our great need. GOD is the one that fills us with the good stuff. All that other stuff we go rushing after – the impossible expectations, the successes, the wealth, the love – we will never, ever find it in the world around us. Instead, ALL of what we desperately need and crave is found in the person of Jesus.
That word fill is also an interesting word because it can mean the more obvious, “filled to abundance,” but it can also mean, “to be armed.” Isn’t it interesting that the good God fills us with actually arms us?
Centuries after this psalm was penned, Paul shares the same idea. In Ephesians 3:19, it says, “and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God.”
Again, the words filled up and fullness have this idea of liberal abundance. God doesn’t partially fill us up. He isn’t stingy with His goodness. He fills our souls liberally, IF we will come to Him to be filled.
As we enter the Christmas season and think about celebrating Jesus’ birth, these verses mean all the more to me. Because Jesus came as a baby, because He was willing to be crucified for my sins, I CAN find satisfaction for my thirsty soul. I don’t have to shaqaq. Instead, I can be filled with all the fullness of God.
I can’t think of anything to be more thankful for on Thanksgiving Day. Can you?
This year, I want to slow down and really savor the idea of Immanuel – God with us. In an effort to do that, I created the 28 Days Advent Journal: Savor the Season. It’s available on Amazon and Createspace, and I’d love it if you joined me in going through it this Christmas season.
But even if you don’t, I hope that you will allow the God of the Universe to fill you up with all of His fullness, so your soul’s thirst will be quenched and you won’t be left to shaqaq!
Blessings, Rosanne