"All who are thirsty--all who are weak--come to the fountain--dip your heart in the stream of life..." Most of us know this song. "Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away, in the waves of his mercy, as deep cries out to deep. Come, Lord Jesus, come..."

Isaiah 55 (NLT) begins with a question: "Is anyone thirsty?" God, through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah, is asking us a question. God Almighty is putting us in a position to reflect upon our own hearts and make a decision of whether or not we are, in fact, thirsty. He wants us to determine our level of thirst.

When our physical bodies are thirsty and we don't replenish our fluids, the process of dehydration is initiated. Beginning symptoms include things like dry skin, headaches, and muscle cramps. If ignored, it can turn into a source of dizziness, and we become weak and lethargic. More seriously, it can cause the onset of delirium, fainting, swelling of the tongue, and seizures. And in extreme cases, when we become so dehydrated that our body refuses to retain even the littlest bit of water we attempt to consume, dehydration can even result in death.

During the summer months, my family decided to take in a movie. As we settled in with our pop and popcorn, the previews started. A commercial for Sprite began to roll on the big screen. Images of people playing extreme sports flashed at us at a rate faster than our brains could take hold of. Thirst was made evident by the athletes' exaggerated sweat, and one could hear the "Ahhhhs" as they guzzled their pop. Then they were back to the games--splashing into a basketball court that turned into water when they hit the pavement. Cool effects! All this to say that at the end of this commercial, which had everyone's attention, the entire movie screen filled with the words, "Obey Your Thirst." The words hung on the screen for me long after they faded. Obey Your Thirst.

You see, God designed thirst along with everything else in our physical world. Thirst has a reason, and it is important for us to respond to this thirst--to obey our thirst! In his infinite, all-knowing wisdom, God designed our bodies to have the symptoms of dehydration so that we would do something about it. Re-hydrating ourselves is a response to dehydrating. Drinking is a response to being thirsty. I believe he is telling many of us to obey our thirst in this season.

After a dream about a frog layered in the mud, I embarked on a late-night wikipedia.com journey to see if this frog really existed. I came across this: In the desert of Southern Australia, there is a frog called Spencer's Burrowing Frog. This frog burrows down into the dirt and hibernates at a depth of about three feet during the drought season. While the dirt is still soft, he makes his way down by digging with his hind feet in a cyclone action and actually turns in circles as he moves backwards and goes deeper and deeper. Eventually, his body becomes cemented into the hard layers and waits for the rain. This frog hibernates there. Sacks of water between its muscles keep the frog alive. But, the frog is not awake, it is hibernating; sometimes up to several years. It is said that these frogs have such a keen sense of hearing that when the rains begin to fall, it can hear the drops on the hard cracked ground above them like we hear the drops on the roof of our house. It is aware that the water is coming. As the water seeps through the cracks and follows the path to the frog, it awakens and resurfaces to breed.

Have you ever noticed how often nature gives us a mirrored image of a spiritual truth? The natural reflects the spiritual. In the same way that we dehydrate physically and "hibernate" because of lack of water, we can also dehydrate spiritually. In the same way that we become hungry physically, we can become hungry spiritually. But when we are spiritually thirsty and hungry, the things that satisfy us are different.

Isaiah goes on to tell us in Chapter 55 that our spiritual needs are different than the things we spend money on and labor for to satisfy our desires. He says, "Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!" Where do we get this good food? We read in verses 10-11a, " The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. " God parallels the rain and snow, the things that water the earth, with the Word. In the context of being saturated and softened by His Word, which makes us soft soil, the content of The Word produces good food for us to feast on.

Jesus himself tells us in John 7:37, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, (quoting Isaiah 12:3), "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." And we read in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." Just as we drink to hydrate physically, we are fed spiritually through Jesus Christ who is The Word.

How many of us are in a stage of spiritual dehydration? Are you dry--parched--scorched--near dying?

I believe God is taking many of us down a path of re-hydration during this season; a path where His living water can seep beyond our hard surfaces and awaken the things in us that have slumbered for a long, sometimes very long, time.

How thirsty are you? Will you choose to be obedient to your thirst? Are there hibernating parts of you that need to be saturated with His living water? Surround yourself with trusted friends and mentors who will process these things with you. Look for God's re-hydrating words in Scripture as you spend time with him, and give testimony to those around you of how he is moving in you life...

As the lyricist reminds us, "All who are thirsty, all you are weak, come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life." -and stay hydrated!

Sharon Franta is a member of the ARC through her home church, North Heights Lutheran in St. Paul, MN. She is currently in her second year at The Master's Institute Seminary and is serving as an intern with ARC pastor Eric Bluhm. She and her husband Scott have four children and live in Roseville, MN.