Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health – Question 1

 

Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health – Question 1*

So here is question 1:  “Do you thirst for God?” He refers to Psalm 42:1-2; Philippians 3:10. He identifies 3 kinds of spiritual thirst:

·       thirst of the empty soul - one who has not been saved by God. The author notes that the empty soul has no desire for God; that he/she thirsts for the desires of the flesh and mind (Ephesians 2:3) He searches everywhere under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), yet discovers only ‘vanity and grasping for the wind’. (Ecclesiastes 1:14) The Christian knows that what an empty soul thirsts for and needs can only be found in the One who said, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst again.” (John 4:14) The psalmist indicates that the world cannot satisfy that kind of thirst, but an empty soul can be deceived into looking no further (Psalm 14:2; compare with Romans 3:11). Until the Holy Spirit touches the “spiritual tongue” of the empty soul, that soul will never want to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”.

·       thirst of the dry soul – similar to the empty soul. This one has never found nor sought the “living water”. How does this apply to a Christian? Does one cup of the living water destroy the thirst forever? Or, does it make a spring inside of us to satisfy our recurring thirst so that we do not have to go looking for another source of living water? The author refers to the world’s water as a ‘salt-filled, briny water’ – how much of one’s thirst is satisfied by that kind water? How might our inner spring run dry, become desert-like? (compare Psalm 143:6-7)

·       thirst of a satisfied soul – such a person has tasted and seen that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8); the taste is so satisfying that such a soul craves more. (see Philippians 3:7-10). God initiates the thirst for Him and His Word! The author asks us: Has your worship or devotional experience lately provided you with ravishing tastes of what A.W. Tozer called the “piercing sweetness” of Christ, only to leave you with a divine discontent that desires more? Can we pray his prayer: “O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more; I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace, and ashamed of my lack of desire. O Triune God, I want to want thee, I long to be filled with longing, I thirst to be made thirsty still.”

Steps for Thirsting After God: (1) Meditate on Scripture – not just reading, spending 25-50% of your Bible time meditating on some part of the passage. Meditation is effectual when we approach the passage with pen/pencil and paper in front of us to jot down our thoughts and how to apply the passage in our lives.  (2) Pray through Scripture. After reading a section of Scripture – pray through that part of the same passage. Choose a section, and then verse-by-verse, let the words of God become the wings of your words to Him. Possibly one of the easier books of the Bible to pray through are the Psalms. Become the “first person voice” in the Psalm passages you choose and allow the words to bathe you in awareness of God’s presence. (3) Read ‘thirst-making’ writers. The author suggests those books considered ‘time-tested’ or which you know to be scripturally sound. We have had the opportunity to study the Bible using guides from Charles Stanley and R.C. Sproul – contemporary writers who are deeply immersed and who seek to provide the ‘whole counsel of God’ in their writings. I have also found a couple of Jerry Bridges’ writings to be faith building, along with Tony Evans. Find out what books others are reading that could be meaningful for you to continue ‘thirsty’ for God.

*The foregoing represents my personal reflections on a study by Dr. Donald S. Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. (2001. By Donald S. Whitney. NAVPRESS. ISBN 978-1-61747-187-2) Quotations and excerpts are from that source, unless otherwise identified. For the 2023 Lenten season I provided these thoughts to my local congregation's Bible study group. The questions are not, however, constrained by a particular liturgical season, holiday, or age group: these are questions every Christian may find useful in fulfilling God's command at 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!" The church at Corinth looked a lot like many of our churches today.