When Thirst Is Not A Feeling

By Jim Hammond

Many years ago I learned that you CANNOT always rely on your thirst mechanism to keep properly hydrated.   In 1983, on a fall backpacking trip Gina and I were caught in a snowstorm (some of you read about that frightening experience, in another article. If you didn’t read about it you may do so by clicking here).  It was an early winter in the High Sierras.  While we were hiking, we were walking, breathing, human humidifiers, taking in dry air and breathing out moist air.  We were losing body moisture rapidly.  Our legs were cramping, our stomachs nauseated.  We were a mess.  But the combination of the cool conditions and taking a little drink of water every now and again gave us the false assurance that we had plenty of water.  We didn’t feel thirst.  In that experience, our thirst mechanisms deceived us.  Though we did not feel thirsty we were dehydrated.   Later, after our experience, we learned that in such winter conditions under high exertion, one must not rely upon his thirst mechanism but systematically drink at least 16 oz of water every hour because the thirst mechanism will fool you.  There is much to be learned from this.  

There are conditions in our hike on this earth that set us up for this danger—the danger that comes  when thirst is not a feeling.  There are many times in life when you cannot rely upon your feelings.  You may not feel thirsty, but you are spiritually dehydrated, and dangerously so.  You may not feel guilty, but you are guilty and dangerously so.  Take a moment to read the following verses, first a verse from the Old Testament Law, then a verse from Paul in the New Testament.

(Leviticus 4:13 NIV)  "'If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, they are guilty.”

(1 Corinthians 4:4 NIV)  My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Leviticus 4:13 speaks of unintentional sins.  You’ve done them and I’ve done them.  Somehow we tend to excuse these because they were unintentional.  Yet even though we do something unintentionally, or even though we do something we did not know was a sin, we are guilty of sin.  This means a few important things:  1) Guilt is not primarily a feeling. You are guilty when you have offended God, whether you feel guilty or not.  2) Guilt is a transgression of God's righteousness, whether you are aware of your guilt or not.  3) Your conscience may feel clean and clear though in reality you are guilty.  Why don’t our feelings match the reality of our condition?  The Bible tells us it is because we are fallen creatures living in a fallen world.  Our own culture deceives us and trains our consciences according to a lie so that our consciences become as unreliable as thirst mechanisms in a mountain winter blizzard.  You can have a defective conscience. 

Haven’t you seen defective consciences all around you?   We see it on the news everyday.  But we see it in places we don’t expect as well.   Haven’t you been surprised on occasion by the sinful behavior or lifestyle of somebody who claims to be a Christian?   It is disheartening, but many confessing Christians live a lifestyle that is no different than the typical nonbeliever?  Why don’t they feel guilty over some of their choices?  Perhaps, because they don’t believe the Bible as much as they say they do, or perhaps, because they believe what they want to believe.  They have allowed their theology to be shaped by their experience rather than the other way around.  Sometimes their tender heart became hardened like calluses when repeatedly offended.  When this happens, they are just like the Israelites described in the book of Judges when “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”  They forgot what is right in God’s eyes.  In the U.S., we are living in that cycle of history again.  People are making up their own definitions of morality.

 Let me ask a more pointed question than “Why don’t they feel guilty?”  Are you ready?  Here it is. Why don’t YOU feel guilty when YOU sin?  Why don’t you do more to keep yourself from sin?  The simple truth is any sin committed and repeated will dull our thirst and dull our sensitivity to God.  Any sin.  Many believers have lost their way, doing what is right in their own eyes rather than what is right in God’s eyes.   Let me say it again, in our culture, don’t trust your feelings, or your own conscience, these may be defective.  Like the defective thirst mechanism, you may be spiritually dehydrated and suffering from your unrecognized guilt.  Do you wonder why God seems so far away?  Why does it seem like he doesn’t your prayers?  Hmmmm.  Learn what God says about sin.

Now here’s the good news.  We can bring our sin before the cross, our unintentional sins, and our intentional sins.  We can be forgiven, and washed clean.  We are told to maintain the state of forgiveness and cleanness by taking sin seriously.  We must take repentance seriously, and lean on God in a daily dependence so that we can please Him.  The good news is that through Christ, we can please God, and be cleansed and acceptable before God.  Once cleansed, even our feelings, which were defective, can be healed.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6).   Drink often from God’s word and your thirst for it will actually increase.  Your heart’s sensitivity will also increase.  Our consciences need to be re-trained by God.  Paul put it this way in Romans 12:2 (NIV)  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”