August 14 - Come, All Who Are Thirsty

August 14 - Isaiah 55:1-13 - Come, All Who Are Thirsty

I've said that these are a few of my favorite passages and this may top the list. Well, actually, much of Isaiah sits right there at the top of glorious words from the Lord God Almighty.

The very things that we are lacking are those things that the Lord wants to offer to us. Are you thirsty? Come to the waters. If you have no money, come buy wine and milk without cost. The Lord offers us abundance and we don't know what to do with it. We work so hard to ensure that we have everything we need, when the Lord calls us to simply come to the waters. Come stand in His presence. Allow Him to pour out His blessings.

The people of Israel were ready to make a treaty with surrounding nations so that they could have peace, yet they could not bring themselves to fall before the Lord and ask Him to intervene. They insisted on doing things themselves.

Sound familiar? Oh, this is my life. It is so much easier for me to just deal with it than let the Lord actually guide me. Trust issues? Oh I have them. But, at what point am I proving to the world that I don't trust the Lord - that I don't trust that He even exists. Because if I stand in this world and declare that I believe in God and that I believe He will care for all my needs, how can I deny Him the chance to actually meet my needs?

But, God, the Creator of all things, who has deigned to come to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, will have mercy on us ... on me. He will freely pardon. (Isaiah 55:7-8) All we have to do is seek Him, turn to him, call on him.

I am but a flicker in His creation. The Lord's purpose will be achieved with or without me. He does not need me to accomplish His desires. But ... He wants me.

The beauty of the words in Isaiah 55:10-12 brings me to tears every time.

"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, 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. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

We recognize that the word which goes out from the mouth of the Lord is the same word that we see over and over again - Jesus Christ - the word made flesh. The prophecy in these words are that He will go out and will not return empty. We are God's desire and purpose. He has come to ensure that we will be present in the throneroom.

Joy and peace ... the celebration of the accomplishment of God's purpose in Jesus Christ. We will participate in all of that!