Category: Devotion of the Day

Come and Drink

My soul thirsteth.
Psalm 63:1

If any man thirst…
John 7:37

“But how can my thirsting soul find God? He is too abstract, I can form no mental picture of Him. How can I drink of the Living Water?”

That is why Jesus came. In Him the Word became flesh. No man comes to the Father but by Him, and whosoever comes to Him will in no wise be cast out.

“If any man thirst, let Him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.” Thirsting, coming, drinking, believing, overflowing—the thirsting soul comes and receives and believes that it has received (Mk. 11:24). The overflowing is a natural – a supernatural – consequence – “shall flow.”

A little tenement child in a hospital, presented with a large glass of cool, rich milk, asked hesitantly, “How deep may I drink?” Drink deeply of the Living Water!

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”

The daily devotions are from Day by Day by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953.

Stopping Short of God

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.
Psalm 63:1

Any spiritual exercise that stops short of God Himself stops far too short. We can become taken up with the means and forget the end. Our Bible reading may bring us profit and we may lay down the Book with a comfortable sense of duty well performed, but does the heart say, “Beyond the sacred page, I seek Thee, Lord”? Prayer is but a means to an end: we may get a secret satisfaction out of praying that makes prayer only an end in itself. “Early will I seek thee” – that is true prayer. “Now thee alone I seek, give what is best.” Faith has no value save as it links us with God. Yet we often become taken up with our faith and miss God entirely.

Feelings, experiences, meditation, reading, church attendance, with all these we may stop short of God, finding some satisfaction but letting the good rob us of the best – Himself. The Psalmist said, “My soul thirsteth…my flesh longeth for thee.” Only God can meet the need of the whole man.

The daily devotions are from Day by Day by Vance Havner. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953.