Are You Thirsty?

Are You Thirsty?

Isaiah 55:1-3 "All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost! Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what does not satisfy? Only listen to me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Pay attention and come to me; listen, that you may have life. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the steadfast loyalty promised to David.”

The verse of the day on Biblegateway today was Isaiah 55:6. However, when I started to read the whole chapter, this first part of the verse stood out to me. I researched the verses and what they meant, as I was not sure I understood the deeper meaning. I read a really great article titled “The Great Invitation: Come! Drink! Eat! Live!” by John Piper. I will place a link for the article in the show notes. This article gave me a better understanding of what these verses were saying. 

The verse begins by saying, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” This is an invitation to all of us who are thirsty. All of us who are searching for more. We are looking for the living water that Jesus talks about. The verse also says, “You who have no money.” So the first group who are being invited are those who are thirsty and yet have no money to pay. The article talks about how these people have a thirst in their hearts. The author says these are the people whose “hearts feel like the brown grass in my backyard. It hasn’t rained for a long time. A lot of old hopes have dried up. Dreams have waited and almost died. Dead-end streets again and again. Empty. Unfulfilled. Dissatisfied. Knowing there has to be something more to life.” He talks about how everything good seems out of reach, and you have run out of strength and motivation.

If this is you, the Lord is speaking to you in this verse, He is inviting you into the banquet of salvation. You who have no money, you who have no power and no prestige. You who have no resources. He is calling you to Him, to the one who has it all and can give it all to you. You are exactly who the Lord is looking for in this first verse.

If that is not you, if you do have money, you do have resources and power, then you might fall into the second category of who God is inviting in. Next, it says, “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what does not satisfy?” The next group of people God is inviting is those who do have money, those who do have the strength to work. This second group of people are self-sufficient. The author describes them like this, “He’s not like the other guy — burnt out, at the end of his rope. He is still spending and still working, dreaming, chasing, searching, experimenting — a different job, different city, different car, different house, different wife, new computer, new boat, new books, new bike, new grill, new season tickets, new diet, new looks — there’s still a lot of looking around left in this person. But still no pot at the end of the rainbow. No fountain of youth. And every triumph peters out. The applause fades. The boat is boring. The style passes. Everything new gets old, and the options get fewer and fewer.”

Does that sound like you? Do you have all the things, and yet you are not happy? Are you constantly searching for the next big thing that will finally fulfill the desire you have or will finally make you happy? Do you know you have this deep hole inside of you longing and needing something that just can’t seem to be filled? No matter how self-sufficient you appear to be on the outside, you can’t seem to fill that hole on the inside.

I think most of us would fall into one of these two categories. The article asks, “What are we offered in these verses?” First, we are offered water, wine & milk. He says that these drinks correspond to the deep needs we all have. Water corresponds to the need for refreshment. When we are thirsty and dehydrated, it is water that we want. Nothing else does the trick. In Psalms 23:2-3 it says, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” This morning God is inviting you to receive refreshment & restoration. He is inviting you into a new beginning.

Milk corresponds to our need for nourishment. When someone is thirsty, you give them water. However, when you want babies to grow, you give them milk. This tells us that God is not just for emergencies. He is not just for the times when you feel dehydrated. He is there for the long hall. We don’t just give kids milk every now and then. They usually drink it every day. The same is true for the Lord. You can go to him continually, every single day, to get your nourishment. The author states, "He invites you not only to come alive with water but also to be stable and strong with milk.”

Wine corresponds to the need for exhilaration. We need the water to live and not die. We need the milk to grow and be nourished. And yet that is not all we need in life. “No matter how stoic, unemotional, laid-back or poker-faced we may seem to others, there is still a child inside of every one of us that God made for exhilaration—for shouting and singing and dancing and playing and skipping and running and jumping and laughing.” So, what verse one is telling us is that God wants to revive us from dehydration with His water, help nourish us and make us stronger with His milk, and give us exhilaration with His wine.

The second half of the verse above says, “Only listen to me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Pay attention and come to me; listen, that you may have life. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the steadfast loyalty promised to David.” Here the Lord is telling us to come to Him to listen to Him. Verse 3 tells us that we can have the same kind of covenant that God had with David. I am not sure if you know a lot about David or not, but God showed favor to David. David was very blessed and looked after. That does not mean he had an easy life, he did not. However, God did bless him and all he did. I definitely would like to share in that covenant with the Lord.

The article talks about four things we need to do in order to get these benefits. First, we need to listen to God’s word. Are we doing that, or are we listening to the words of the world? Next, he said we are called to come, buy, eat & enjoy. Here is his conclusion that explains what this means: “

If you are distant from God, you need to come, draw near.If you have drawn near in recent days or just this morning, but hold back from any transaction analyzing and appraising, you need to buy. I admit it is a strange transaction: there is no price and you are spiritually bankrupt. But you must take this water and milk and wine, and count it yours just as much as if you had bought it, for there is one who has bought it.If you have made the transaction and hold the water and milk and wine in your hand, you need to eat. God is not a thing to be studied. He is a person to be experienced. He is food and life and joy for the soul.Finally, if you have eaten, delight yourself in the Lord. And say with the psalmist, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11)."

CLICK HERE for the article. I highly encourage you to read the article. I have tried to summarize it for you, and yet the author goes into so much more detail. I think you will really enjoy the full article.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we love you. Lord, we thank you for calling us to you over and over again. We thank you that you do not give up on us when we continually turn away from you and turn toward the world. Lord, help us to come to you. Help us to listen to your word and to study your word. Help us to obtain the water, milk, and wine that you have available for us. We thank you, Lord, for all the wonderful things you do for us. You are the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. You are truly amazing! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you all for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again in the morning. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day.

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