come to me all you who thirst

Come

Posted on by Betsy

What do you reach for when you are thirsty? Your answer may reveal where you live. Is it sweet tea? Welcome to the south! Do you get a “soda” or a “pop”? Years ago I discovered that there are parts of the country that call every type of soda “Coke”. Speaking for this Yankee, that is super confusing. For a lot of us, the day can’t even start until we’ve had that first-in-the-morning mug of hot coffee. A few Sundays ago, I watched a friend react to a sermon where the preacher talked about giving up coffee for Lent. She looked like a giant rat had just run across her feet. I shared in her horror.

Our beautiful passage today comes from Isaiah. Isaiah is my favorite book in the Bible, and this Scripture is one of the reasons I love it so much. It is lush in imagery, full of hope, rich in content, and offers a bottomless cup of cool water to our parched souls today:

Isaiah 55 (New International Version)

“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.

The invitation is to come and partake of the waters that the Lord is offering. Jesus may have been referencing this passage in John 7 when he said “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” It makes sense that we are invited to buy wine and milk at no cost … Jesus has already paid the price. He offers us the waters of salvation, wholeness, forgiveness, and LIFE.

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.

Isaiah reminds us that too often we thirst after things that can never satisfy. Wealth. Status. Popularity. Beauty. Power. God offers us the richest of fare if we come thirsting after his righteousness. Will we accept?

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.”

Isaiah reminds Israel that they have thirsted after the wrong things in their pursuit of unholy allies. The better alliance is found with the Lord, who endows Israel 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.

In the end, we have to remember that God knows what we need and he will provide for us. But we need to hunger and thirst only for him … otherwise, we will continue to fill ourselves up with the empty calories of worldly living.

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.

What do you thirst after today? Be sure to drink a cup of Jesus. What a blessing it is to know that when we seek the Lord, he will be found. God is near to us when we call out for him. Do you need his help? Call out! God will hear you and respond with mercy and pardon.

Jesus invites us to come to the waters, where we will never be thirsty again.

Come to the Waters by Michelle Robertson

Thirsty?

Posted on by Betsy

Thirst is an issue in these dog days of summer. Being outside for even a nano-second (with mascara melting and sunglasses fogging) is an instant dehydrator. Here on the Outer Banks the relentless heat index has made us feel as though we are living on the surface of the sun. Just getting to the car to go grocery shopping is thirsty work.

Have you ever considered the things people thirst after that aren’t hydration? Some people thirst after fame. Some thirst after power. Some thirst for wealth. Others for equality and inclusion. Some things are worthy of our thirst and others are frivolous. We can either drink the clear and healthy water that sustains us and helps us thrive, or we can try to satisfy ourselves with sugary soda pop. God has created us to know a good thirst from a bad one, and to seek to satisfy that thirst with healthy things rather than waste our resources on things that will never satiate us.

But we still keep reaching for the soda pop.

God has a better offer.

Isaiah 55 (Contemporary English Version)

If you are thirsty,
    come and drink water!
If you don’t have any money,
    come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk
    without paying a cent.
2 Why waste your money
    on what really isn’t food?
Why work hard for something
    that doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy
    the very best foods.

I think the conflict we face is between taking a quick and easy fix for our problems or accepting the free grace and mercy that the Lord offers.

I know a woman who is struggling in her marriage. Her alcohol consumption exacerbates the situation. She knows that. Night after night she chooses to drink, which causes her to say critical and harsh things to her spouse. She recognizes that she is invited to drink from the Living Water that is Christ, who offers patience, perseverance, and forgiveness, but that would require sobriety. Christ alone is able to quench her thirst, but instead she drinks from the wasteful bottle of avoidance and anger, which will never, ever satisfy.

3 Pay close attention!
    Come to me and live.
I will promise you
the eternal love and loyalty
    that I promised David.
4 I made him the leader and ruler
of the nations;
    he was my witness to them.

No matter what you are thirsting after today, God has an unlimited well of goodness that is offered without price. His healing mercies flow from the font of the resurrection. When you drink freely of the water he has to offer, you will be blessed with a life that provides the very best foods of peace, wholeness, and contentment.

Thirsty? Try Jesus. Come to him and live and you will receive the eternal love and loyalty he offers to all. When you drink the Living Water you will never be thirsty again.

The Thirsty Come by Kathy Schumacher