You Have Been Faithful… Yet My Soul Still Thirsts
That sentence has been echoing in my heart over the holidays.
As the year slowed and the noise faded, I found myself doing what David did so often—remembering. Looking back, I can say with confidence that the Lord has been faithful. Personally. In my family. And in our church.
David models this posture clearly:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” — Psalm 103
Gratitude matters. Remembering matters. Forgetfulness has always been one of God’s people’s greatest dangers.
But David never stops at remembrance alone.
Almost in the same breath, he shifts from memory to longing:
“O God, you are my God; earnestly 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
David teaches us something essential here: God’s faithfulness in the past does not cancel our need for His presence today. Gratitude and hunger are not enemies—they are companions.
God Has Been Faithful!
As a church, 2025 was marked by one word: Build.
We built facilities.
We built disciples.
We built families.
We built teams, systems, and structures to steward what God entrusted to us.
And God met us in it.
Just as David often recounted victories before stepping into what was next, we can point to tangible evidence of God’s hand among us. None of what stands today exists apart from His grace.
Scripture reminds us:
“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”— Psalm 127
God did build. He was faithful.
But David never confused God’s provision with God’s presence. Yesterday’s faithfulness does not sustain today’s soul.
Yet My Soul Still Thirsts
As we step into 2026, our theme shifts intentionally: Less of me. More of Him.
This isn’t a rejection of what God helped us build—it’s a realignment of why we built in the first place.
David understood this long before it became a phrase or a theme. After seasons of victory, growth, and success, he still prayed prayers of surrender:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” — Psalm 51
David’s success didn’t make him immune to self-sufficiency—but it revealed the danger of it. Through both victory and failure, he learned that life apart from God’s presence always leads to emptiness.
That is the posture we’re stepping into—not striving for more visibility or accomplishment, but choosing daily dependence, decreasing so Christ might increase.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” — John 3:30
Giving Our Thirst a Voice
This week, we begin a 21-day fast as a church.
Fasting is not about earning God’s favor. It is a physical confession of a spiritual reality—we are a needy people. It is choosing longing over distraction and dependence over comfort.
David understood this kind of discipline. He trusted that God alone could satisfy what his soul desired most:
“My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.”
— Psalm 63:5
Fasting doesn’t deny satisfaction—it redirects it.
As we enter this season, may we be men who don’t numb or distract our hunger, but allow it to draw us nearer to the presence of God.
A Prayer for the Year Ahead
Lord,
As I step into this new year, I thank You for Your faithfulness. I acknowledge that everything I’ve been able to build, lead, and steward has only happened because of Your grace.
And yet, I confess that my soul still thirsts.
I don’t want to rely on yesterday’s victories or settle for spiritual momentum from another season. I want more of You—more humility, more dependence, more awareness of Your presence in my daily life.
I pray the same over the men of Legacy.
Strip away self-reliance.
Quiet the noise that distracts us.
Expose the things we’ve leaned on more than You.
As we fast, create space in us. Teach us to hunger for what truly satisfies. Shape us into men who decrease gladly so that Christ might increase fully.
May this be a year marked not just by what we build—but by what we surrender.
You have been faithful, Lord…
and our souls still thirst.
Amen.
