A few years back I experienced a thirst like I had never had before.  We were on a  104-day cruise.  Having successfully escaped pirates off the coast of Somalia, we were now travelling through the Suez Canal in Egypt.  A lovely, leisurely sail up the Red Sea into the Canal.  We were to travel by bus to the Valley of the Kings, of King Tut fame.  Once the ship had docked, we boarded our buses, each one led  by a truck, escorting us and carrying armed guard.  We could see their rifles.  Felt safe.  We needed safety for this was the week before the Egyptian election that ultimately led to riots, death and chaos.  But we were safe with those armed escorts… who all gunned their motors and peeled off to go home within a couple of feet of the barbed-wire gates of the port!  Never to be seen again!  Like us… maybe?  Here today…gone today!  On our own.

The heat in the Valley of the Kings was 120 degrees.  Blistering and blazing heat.  When we got off the bus to get on tiny trams, I thought the only smart ones were the ones buried in those much cooler tombs!  Felt claustrophobic in that inferno.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was thirst that hit me.  A parched cardboard feeling in my mouth and throat.  I could hardly swallow.  So dry.  Had to endure it.  The water we brought from the ship was now itself almost hot.  Didn’t satisfy at all.  Not in the least.  Drank and drank and drank some more, but felt as if nothing had gone down our throats.  Strange… but that’s how it felt.

Revelation 7 pictures God’s people.  All have endured terrible trials and tribulations.  Pictured wearing white robes that become ultra-white by washing them in the ‘blood of the Lamb'(Revelation 7: 15).  Sounds like a mixed metaphor to me–made white by washing in blood?  We become clean, not by our own efforts.  The blood of Jesus, shed on the cross–it’s that which covers our sins and cleanses our lives.  Only He can do that.

Guess what will not be in heaven?  Yes, no hunger.  AND no thirst!  Hallelujah!  The scorching sun will be shaded by God Himself.  As a matter of fact, it says elsewhere in Revelation that with God present, no sun will be needed ( Revelation 22: 5).  His light will be everywhere.  Not merely for an hour on Sunday morning, but forever.  When we get there, we’ll wonder why we wanted to hang around this crazy world.  Why did we have that surgery?  Why take all those pills?  I could have gotten there sooner if I hadn’t given up smoking 30 years ago!  Only kidding!

In the meantime, we have lots to do for the Lord!  Let’s get busy.  Agreed?

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for the water of life you give us freely in Jesus.  In His name.   Amen.