Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Isaiah 55:1-4 (NIV)
Invitation to the Thirsty
55 “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.
Isaiah 55 is one of the most beautiful in the entire Old Testament. We will focus on two sections. In verses 1 & 2, we are urged to stop wasting our money on worldly things that don’t satisfy. Instead, we are to “listen” to God speak, and thereby “eat” what is free and good. Verses 3 & 4 describe the content of God’s Word: this is the new covenant which will be brought by Christ, the son of David and ruler of all peoples. This relationship with Christ, delivered to our ears by God’s Word, is the free food for real life. Then we skip to verse 8 to 11, which describe how it is that mere words can do such wonderful things. The difference is that, unlike human words, God Word actual does something. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your heart today, and allow God’s Word to accomplish its purpose in you. This may include turning you from sin, changing a bad attitude, or leading you to serve in a new way.