COME, ALL YOU WHO ARE THIRSTY

Isaiah 55:1-13 / Keywords 55:1

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

 

Invitation to the Thirsty

55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.

2 Why spend money on what is not bread,

    and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

3 Give ear and come to me;

    listen, that you may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

    my faithful love promised to David.

4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

    a ruler and commander of the peoples.

5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,

    and nations you do not know will come running to you,

because of the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel,

    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake their ways

    and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

12 You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.”

1. God invites all who are thirsty to a glorious banquet of salvation, an everlasting covenant with David and his descendants. All their thirst, God promises, will be fully quenched. Seeking the things of this world doesn’t satisfy us. It is like drinking salt water or putting hard-earned money into a bag with holes. But Jesus offers us life-giving and life-sustaining water and bread without price, for “Jesus paid it all” by shedding his life blood for our sins. If we hear, seek, and turn to him and forsake our sins, he will have mercy on us and freely pardon us.

 

2. We often don’t understand God and his ways, for God’s thoughts and ways are superior to ours. But that should not hinder us from obeying him and his words. When we humbly admit our limitations, we can follow his words and his ways. God’s word is living and active and never returns empty to him. Like rain that waters the earth and produces abundant harvest, God’s word will certainly produce its intended purpose. When we enter into God’s everlasting covenant through repentance and faith in Jesus, we will go out in joy and peace. And everything in nature—mountains, hills, fields, and the whole creation—will join us in celebration of the restored creation order. Then the curse will be replaced by life and blessing.

 

Prayer Lord, I am thirsty, and I come to you for the free gift of the water of life. Come and satisfy my hungry soul with the Bread of heaven.

One Word Seek the Lord while he may be found