““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1 ESV
Reflection: thinking back at your life, what has been the most valuable?
The world teaches us one important rule – the relationship between what something costs and the perceived value. This can easily be verified in all that we do. Just think about traveling. A first class airplane ticket gives you without a doubt a much better experience than an economy ticket. The price is often 5-10 times higher for a first class ticket. Food at an upscale restaurant is generally much better than what you get at a fast food chain. Same thing, the price is many times higher at an upscale restaurant. It doesn’t take much thought to see that, in most aspects of our life experiences, having more money in this world, will generally give you a “better experience”. This idea gets planted in our minds very early in life, in all sorts of ways. Societal hierarchies, where the wealthy have more power and influence, and can purchase whatever experience they want; we are constantly exposed to clever marketing using beautiful models and celebrities; we might even have had some direct experiences ourselves that has validated that more money buys more value.
So, in order to get more of this higher value in life, we might make a decision early on to work hard, to get an education. So that we can get a “good job” where we can make a lot of money. And, once we get that dream job, and the big house, and the best car, and luxury vacations, and wonderful food at the best restaurants, we don’t slow down. No, we want more. We need more, the experiences become almost addictive in themselves. Billionaire Warren Buffet famously responded when asked what he would do with all his wealth, saying he would “make another dollar”. When we think about that for just one moment, we can see that, even with all the money, wealth and power and experiences the world can offer, it still cannot satisfy our hunger, our thirst. So then, this leads us to the natural next question,
what is it that we are actually hungry and thirsty for?
We read from one of the most beloved chapters in the Bible today, Isaiah 55, the following “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV. In these few words lies the entire answer to this secret. Let’s start first with the second verse, where the Lord raises the question “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” And from what we have looked at, we know this is so true.
We know that, although worldly experiences, like a first class ticket flying to Europe, absolutely feels great. It feels great to our flesh (perhaps at multiple levels), but they don’t satisfy. In fact, they actually leave us hungry for more. The more we have, the more we want. The Lord says basically that we are looking “in all the wrong places”, as the song goes. The Lord says instead to “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live”. Ahh, there is the deeper hunger, the actual thirst we all feel,
“that your soul may live”.
The body, our physical senses, can experience and determine pleasure (and pain). No doubt. But the true, deeper thirst is from our soul. It is a spiritual thirst, thirst for life beyond the physical that we sense, this chase for something eternal that the world cannot satisfy. Now for the best part. The Lord tells us, ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1 ESV. The Lord tells all those who have this thirst, and recognizes that the world cannot satisfy, “come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” What we truly long for, living water, cannot be purchased. Only God offers it, and it is only offered for free.
At first, this goes against our entire price-value system. It sounds too good to be true. How can the most treasured thing, living water for everlasting life, be free? In reality, it wasn’t free. The Lord paid the price Himself, giving up everything so that He can offer this living water to us as a gift. And, there is nothing we can do to pay for it. It is finished. But we must come to Him, and “drink” of the living water. This might remind us of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” John 4:10-14 ESV
So, take a moment ,and ask yourself honestly what are you actually chasing after?
This will show you what you really consider valuable. Perhaps a promotion to make more money? Or doing more volunteer work at church to feel good? Your next big vacation, perhaps? Only you know, besides the Lord, of course. There is only one who will actually quench your thirst; Jesus Christ, who says “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” John 7:37b ESV “without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1b ESV It cost Him everything to be able to give water of life to all who thirsts.
