In Alcoholics Anonymous’ recovery program, those seeking help are taught that when they become ‘restless, irritable, and discontent’ they’re in danger of going back to their drug of choice. Falling back on old bad habits when we’re feeling discouraged doesn’t help, because inside each of us there’s a God-shaped blank that only He can fill. Some of us try to fill the blank with human relationships. Jesus met a woman who’d been divorced five times and was now living with her boyfriend. The conversation went like this: ‘Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty”’ (vv. 13-15 NIV). Your body tells you when it’s hungry and thirsty. So does your soul. We tend to respond more readily to what our flesh craves, instead of what our spirit needs, so we can easily become trapped in an unhealthy addiction. But really, the only ‘safe’ addiction is total surrender and dependence on God. King David had it all: power, popularity, pleasure, and possessions. But it left him empty, so he wrote, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God’ (Psalm 42:1 NIV). So if you feel you’re getting ‘restless, irritable, and discontent,’ reach for God.
What Now?
Do exactly that – if you’re feeling ‘restless, irritable, and discontent’, reach out to God. Ask Him to give you a fresh , powerful awareness of His presence.
