Thirsting for Justice

The title of my blog has always been a reminder to me that there is a type of thirst that I am to continue to have. Matthew 5:6 says, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” I can think of times when my physical body was depleted of water and my thirst was strong. I remember how good water tasted when I was finally able to quench this thirst. Until I quenched it, my mind could think of little else. “Thirst for justice” is about having that same kind of desire for a world of justice. It is a desire to see all wrongs made right. It is easy when I feel that I have been treated unjustly; then, my thirst for justice is immediately strong. What God desires for me is that I learn to have a powerful thirst for justice for others as well. It starts with a thirst for the kind of justice God desires. It starts with a thirst for God.

Psalm 42 speaks of thirsting for God like a deer thirsts for streams of water. Like that deer, we may sometimes despair of ever finding water for our thirst. We may think back on happier times when God was very present, quenching our thirst for justice and our thirst for God’s presence in our lives. We have all known times when both God and God’s justice seemed far away. Psalm 42 reminds us that we can once again put our hope in God for He is the one who will quench our thirst - our thirst for God - and our thirst for justice.

Psalm 42 (NLT)

As the deer longs for streams of water,
    so I long for you, O God.
² I thirst for God, the living God.
    When can I go and stand before him?
³ Day and night I have only tears for food,
    while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
    “Where is this God of yours?”

⁴ My heart is breaking
    as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
    leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
    amid the sound of a great celebration!

⁵ Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and ⁶ my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
    but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
    from the land of Mount Mizar.
⁷ I hear the tumult of the raging seas
    as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
⁸ But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
    and through each night I sing his songs,
    praying to God who gives me life.

⁹ “O God my rock,” I cry,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
    oppressed by my enemies?”
¹⁰ Their taunts break my bones.
    They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

¹¹ Why am I discouraged?
    Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
    I will praise him again—
    my Savior and my God!