O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

A couple weeks ago I had a moment where I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, spiritually and mentally speaking. Mid-April my mom was here for a week, for my graduation, and then three days later I was working in a new full-time barista job.

I was so tired, mentally, physically, emotionally, that I had to drag myself to my trial at the cafe that Tuesday, and I was really wishing I could just stay at home and be immobile all day. So in the mornings when I would wake up in the 5 o’clock hour to be ready for work on time, I struggled to balance everything and found myself with very little time to read my Bible or pray, and I just felt so thirsty for a few days. It was like torture.

But I remember one day walking to work, listening to a worship song and lamenting the fact that I didn’t have enough time with God that morning, and I thought, “No, I can’t take it anymore,” and so I switched the song in my headphones to a really inane Swedish pop song, the latest bop that had caught my attention. It was like candy for my ears, and instantly I forgot about that feeling of spiritual hunger that was plaguing me.

In that moment I was saddened by how quickly I was distracted from my true thirst, and amazed at how in that moment, I felt better. It was like eating sweets when you’re properly hungry: for a moment it gives you a high, but it wears off quickly, and you’re still left hungry.

Are you dehydrated? Are you thirsty in your soul? And what are you using to distract yourself from that thirst? Watch yourself: in your moments of spare time, what do you resort to to fill it? In those quiet moments, especially first thing when we wake up, or right before bed, that’s when we are most vulnerable and exposed: mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Do you reach for your phone, or do you reach for God?

Fight for those moments, those precious moments when nothing else is vying for your attention, invest in them as moments devoted to God. Even the shortest prayers, the briefest moments, can reform us bit by bit, until we can no longer go through the day without constantly reaching out to Him.

In the same Psalm, David speaks of the satisfaction we find in God, even in the most barren wildernesses of our lives:

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. (vv. 5-7)

Maybe whatever is calling to us from our smartphones seems delightful in the moment, but it brings no lasting satisfaction. Only God can fill us, and it’s time that we tune into our spiritual thirst, and turn to the only one who can quench it.