The Quenching of the Spirit
“Quench not the Spirit.” — z THEss. v. 19
nh HERE is a thirst which ought not to be
i quenched — the thirst for God. It is zs like no other thirst in the world. Other thirsts are quenched when they meet their object, but the thirst for God will be quenched if it does not meet its object. When the hart pants after the waterbrooks its panting is allayed by tasting of the waterbrooks, but the panting of my soul for God is kept alive by tasting of God. If I do not taste of God I shall cease to thirst for Him; the Spirit will be quenched. Why is it written, ‘‘ Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness”? It is because in the spiritual world it is the rich and not the poor that hunger. It is because the aspirations of the soul, unlike the wants of the body, are created by the things that feed them, increase with our abundance and intensify with our fulness. To allay that hunger is to become poor; to still that craving is to grow destitute; to quench that thirst is to sink into a pauper’s grave.
O Thou for whom IJ pant as the hart panteth for the waterbrooks, keep alive the thirst of my soul. Thy Spirit in me is my thirst for Thee; let me not quench that Spirit. I fear to lose the thirst for Thee through disuse of Thee. I fear that the craving may subside by abstaining too long from the living waters. Bring me to the waters, O my God. Let me drink once of the river of Thy pleasures — not that I may thirst no more, but that I may thirst no more for any lower thing. Not to lose the desire of Thee do I come to Thee; I come to have it deepened. I have read of a worm that dieth not and of a fire that is not quenched; but I know a fire that is not quenched where the worm does die, It is the fire of Thy love, my Father, the insatiate longing of my heart for Thee. Only in tiat endless flame shall the worm of my care be made to die; only in that mighty thirst shall the power of all other thirsts be allayed. The worm of my care comes back because finite joys grow dim; it shall be consumed for evermore in that joy whose every height reveals new heights to come. I shall find peace from my own torments in that fire of Thine which cannot be quenched.