David, a fugitive in the cave, haunted by the 'nostalgia' that made
Bethlehem seem so fair and dear, may stand for us as an example of the
longings and thirsts that sometimes force themselves into consciousness
in every soul. Below the bustle and strife of daily life, occupied as
it must be with material and often ignoble things, below the hardness
into which the world has compressed men's surface nature, there lies a
yearning for the cool water that rises hard by the gate of our native
home. True, it is with many of us overlaid for the most part by coarser
desires, and may be as unlike our usual dominant longings and aims, as
David's tender outbreak of sentiment was to the prevailing tenor of his
life, in those days when he was an outlaw and a freebooter. But the
longing, though often stifled, is not wholly quenched. It is
misinterpreted by the man who is conscious of it, and far too often he
tries to slake the thirst by fiery and drugged liquors which but make
it more intense. Happy are they who know what it is that their parched
palates crave, and have learned, while yet the knowledge avails, to
say, 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God'! 'Blessed are they
who thirst after' the water of the well of Bethlehem, 'for they shall
be filled!'