Food For Thought: Isaiah 55:1-3 Part I

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Isaiah 55:1-3

We will not come if we are not thirsty
The invitation is made to "everyone who thirsts." One may be tempted to think that this means "everyone" but as I have gone to and fro throughout the world I have discovered that not everyone is thirsty. Many are thirsty but sadly they don't think they are, thus they don't hear the call as a personal invitation. A person will not come, if she is not thirsty. This is an invitation to all those whose tongue is parched and whose lips cracked from dehydration. This is a call to all those who have been laboring in the beating sun without refreshment ... "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters."

Why am I not thirsty?
A person who is not thirsty is either disillusioned or they are drinking from some other water source. The Lord is calling us to come to him and drink from his well, but if we have dug our own cisterns and have drilled our own wells then we will have no need to come to him. But what is the quality of the water? The text does not support this, but I think the implication of the invitation is that we are to come to the Lord and drink from his water BECAUSE his water is pure water. He offers us living water. Not physical water which quenches our thirst for a time, but a satisfaction in him that never dries up. But if I am not thirsty for him ... then I must be drinking from another fountain.

What do I do?
Fast. I really think this is one of the surest ways to recognize our real "thirst." When we deprive ourselves of the emblem (water) then we lean more upon its substance (God). Water (as well as food) are symbols and a language which God uses to illustrate our deeper needs. We are acutely aware of our physical needs ... how much more the substance of what they represent ... yet too often I am more thirsty for the tempory thirst quencher.

Holy Spirit come. Come and fill me with the living water that I may cease from digging and drinking from my own cisterns. This water is polluted, but your water is pure. I want to thirst for you. I want to come to you. Oh that I may hear the words and obey, for your words are life to me. Your words are more satisfying than a cup of cold water on a hot summer's day. I thirst for you ... satisfy me.