Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the source of that ode to frustration, “Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.” Salt water is the cruelest trick, looking, sounding, even feeling like that which satisfies, when in truth it only makes us thirst all the more. But it’s worse. For if you are surrounded by salt water you have no access to fresh water. You are in a place of torment.
And so it is with all our idols. There is a reason why they look like they will satisfy. Whether it is pleasure, power, or position, these are all, like water, in their places, amazing gifts from the hand of God. He tells us that we are His beloved sons, that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places and that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Of course these things are appealing. The One who made us and loves us made them for us to bless us, to demonstrate His love for us.
From the moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, however, we have sought the pleasures of the gifts while fleeing from, distrusting, indeed hating the Giver of those gifts. And so we find ourselves all the more thirsty. The power of the satisfaction, the fulfillment of the desire isn’t found in the things themselves but in the Giver. Augustine said, “Oh Lord, our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in Thee.”
But God. He will not share His glory with another, even if that other is His own gift to us. He calls us out of our idolatry not just for His sake, for His honor but also for our good. He removes us from the ocean of churning saltwater, and leads us beside the still waters. How often, however, we do, having learned that saltwater can’t satisfy, turn around and look down our noses at God’s gifts? We think the problem is the water, and not the salt, and so refuse to drink from Him. We think pleasure is a bad thing in itself, rather than by itself. And so we reject His good gifts. We become ascetics in the midst of the feast our Father has prepared for us.
The solution is not to drink salt water. Nor is it to give up on water altogether. Rather, the solution is to drink deep of the fresh water, gratefully praising the one who leads us there, to joyfully feast upon the green pastures while giving Him glory. Gratitude is how we enjoy His gifts, while looking through them to Him, the Giver. There are pleasures at His right hand forevermore because He is our pleasure forevermore. Life giving water flows from His throne because He is the life-giver. We drink of the water of life because the Father was pleased to strike the rock that was our Lord.
Give thanks. Drink deep. Give thanks. Repeat.