Physically we cannot survive without water. This basic, precious substance is vital to us. So as to ensure that our bodies get the water they need, they provide us with feelings of thirst. The more severe our need of water, the more powerful our thirst becomes. The whole point of thirst is that it drives us to find water, so we can drink and be satisfied.

Water, or the lack of it, is quite literally a matter of life and death. Terrible suffering comes from thirst which for some reason cannot be quenched. Drinking our fill brings us blissful relief. There are many in our world who suffer from desperate physical thirst. There are many others who suffer an equally desperate spiritual need.

This is such a universal and powerful experience that it is often used to describe a deep spiritual longing – even craving – for satisfaction and fulfilment. What do you thirst for in your life at the moment?

Jesus says, paradoxically, that those who thirst for righteousness are blessed. Can such thirst really be a blessing to us? It certainly isn’t comfortable. But if our thirst alerts us to our desperate need for righteousness, then it will indeed be a blessing, because it will drive us to drink from the source of righteousness, until our needs are satisfied and our spiritual thirst quenched.