“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 labour 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.
.
Isaiah 55.1-3a
Earlier in the week The Times published an article about the most expensive car in the world. With a price tag of £20 million it is built on a Rolls Royce Phantom chassis with a standard Phantom selling for around £300,000 but this model has no fewer than 1,813 newly engineered parts to meet the specifications of the purchaser who is not named.
Let’s speculate for a moment about this unnamed person or persons. They clearly have more money than they know what to do with and I suspect are totally self-absorbed. They are clearly thirsty and are trying to assuage their thirst by going one up on all their rich acquaintances ( I use that word rather than friends for friendship is, I suggest something different). But are they happy?
Now I freely admit that this probably comes across as provocative but it highlights the wonder of God’s FREE giving.
Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money come buy and eat! Come, but wine and milk without money and without cost.
Thirst without relief is a terrible thing and can drive a person mad.
Thirst though, refers most often in every day speech to the lack of liquid but we see an unfulfilled thirst in mankind. A thirst for more and more of what they think will bring happiness, namely that which money can buy.
In other words they ‘they spend money on that which is not bread and labour for that which does not satisfy’ because God’s gracious invitation is either not heard or simply ignored.
This famous quote from Augustine of Hippo sums it up:
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
And that restlessness so often seeks rest in money, and things.
But a word of warning because we always need to apply God’s word to ourselves, and a word of challenge.
I have written of an unknown person or persons with no knowledge of their standing before God so I need to examine my own life to endure that I am seeking (and finding) satisfaction in the only place where it can truly be found – in God. We all need to do the same for it is all to easy to deceive ourselves!
Then, when we are feeding at God’s free table, we need to show the world around us that only in him is true fulfilment.
How are we doing?