I have taken to drink. And first thing in the morning, in dawn’s first light. It is true: I have no interest in a sip here or there. I offer a forthright confession: I am bent on nothing less than intoxication. Furthermore, I think I am okay with it.
For hath not God said, “Come to me all you who thirst” (John 7:37)?
So here it is: I awake parched, dry, desperate. Wild and bone-dry, I do as He beckons: I come. And throw myself under that cool stream and I imbibe deeply.
I cry with Psalmist, “my soul thirsts for you like a parched land, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps. 143:6, 63:1). And I drink long draughts: “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God…”
I quaff it down, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4). And swallow more, gulping hard: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace..” (2 Thess. 2:16). The day has yet to begin, rays still unfurling softly across the bed and onto the floor, and I am, blissfully, mercifully, drunk.
But then I hear His whisper, dry and raspy, “I thirst” (John 19:28). So I come again, this time not to fill but to pour out, pour out streams of praise, to quench His thirst for love, for adoration, for glory. “I will praise the name of God with song, And magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30).
I hear him softly, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (Matt. 25:35). With Mary, I offer up, “My soul exalts the Lord” (Lk. 1:46).
He cries, “ my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth” (Ps. 22:15) and I raise up a cup, anointing him with worship “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you” (Ps. 63:3).
It is early morning and we have laced ourselves together, He and I, drinking ourselves full with each other’s love.
Is this what it means when His Word entreats, “Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers” (Song of Solomon 5:1)?
The draught is God’s.
And God is the thirsty one…”
~Dag Hammerskjold
Lord, drink me. My praise and adoration. And I will drink you. Your love and mercy. Let’s imbibe deeply, us lovers.
