Parched

Jul 22, 2023

For nearly a decade I worked for the government affairs group at Qualcomm as a project manager of social responsibility programs.

Basically, I got to do international development work, utilizing Qualcomm technology for good. It was awesome!

My specific task was to oversee multiple projects in healthcare, education, and entrepreneurship in coordination with government agencies, nonprofits, and other corporations all across Africa and Southeast Asia. This meant I traveled extensively to these parts of the world.

Annnnnnnd… If you’ve ever been to a developing country, you may know that some of the things we take for granted in our daily lives are not always available.

Like water.

While we tend to consider clean drinking water a basic need and take for granted its accessibility at nearly all times in our day-to-day lives, many parts of the world do not have this same privilege. In fact, our church supports a missionary in Ghana who develops ways for more people to obtain clean water sources which is amazing. (Check out his recent devotional here!)

On my many work trips to extremely remote parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi and beyond, clean drinking water was not always available so I was often parched. At home I was used to drinking huge amounts of water (and still do!); going without, for periods of time, was an enormous challenge. It left me feeling desperate, at times panicked, and overall not at my best.

Have you ever been in a similar situation, searching for something you are craving, are used to having, or absolutely need and just don’t have?

Going without water increased my gratitude a thousand fold for the water I typically had access to. I think that’s why the writer in Psalm 107 compares our desperate need for God to being parched. It’s an easy connection to make: We need water, without which we’ll eventually die after a few short days.

Similarly, the writer wants us to understand our deep need for God, without whom we will surely die.

Psalm 107 is talking to people who are “on the brink of exhaustion” (MSG verse 5) and in a “desperate condition” (MSG verse 6). And when these same people “called out to God” (MSG verse 6), what was His response?

He got you out in the nick of time; He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves. He poured great drafts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

- Psalm 107: 7-9 (MSG)

Friends, God wants you to experience life to the fullest here on earth. He wants you to be “free from oppression” (Psalm 107:2). He wants you to experience His “marvelous love” and “miracle mercy.” (Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31).