I can’t stand things that rip me off. Whether it’s a vending machine, or a product that doesn’t work as advertised, many of us feel humiliated and/or embarrassed that we have wasted our money, and have nothing to show for it. The same thing is true of our lives. Jehovah God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and asked some penetrating questions, and then gave an open invitation for all who would heed His call.

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance. (Isaiah 55:1, 2 NASB)

Each of us, at some point in life, have felt spiritually dry. We thirst for fulfillment and satisfaction that somehow evades us. We search n our own and try to figure out some way to quench that longing and only end up filling it with other poor substitutes for genuine nourishment for our souls. In the first verse, God initially calls out to those who realize their spiritual poverty. He r
Invites only those who are conscious of their spiritual bankruptcy and utter helplessness before God. No invitation is wasted on those who have any confidence in their own ability to satisfy their spiritual thirst.

God then says something counterintuitive at first. He tells broke people to “come, buy and eat”! How can that happen? Only because of grace. We are all invited to nourish our souls without paying for it ourselves. What is being offered is of tremendous value, but it is being offered to us freely by the one who alone possesses it and can provide it to us.

God then reiterates the futility of our current predicament. He uses a question to remind us of how we are wasting our substance on things of no eternal value. We are attempting in vain to quench the thirst and satisfy the hunger that can only be filled by God.

How do we partake in this abundance? By listening to the Word of God. Jesus Christ proclaimed that He was the fulfillment of these verses when He said,

“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” (John 6:35)

Only as we take in this One, who is the Word of God (John 1:1) that we can experience the joy of having our spiritual hunger and thirst finally satisfied.

So if you have a hunger and a thirst for something real. A hunger for something that is not spiritual junk food, then come to Jesus and be filled. Come to the waters of baptism and delight yourself in spiritual abundance. Heed the advice of the Psalmist and “O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8)

Isaiah records the invitation in this passage a few verses later.

Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6, 7)

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