The chapter begins with an offer that sounds just too good to be true:
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price!”What? Food for free? Wine and milk at no price? What kind of supermarket is this? In these verses, the prophet Isaiah is using a figure of speech. He says that people in this world are thirsty for joy. They are hungry for happiness. But only God can satisfy, and His love is absolutely free.
Then in verse 2 God asks,
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”People are always chasing after something new, looking for something – or someone – that will make us happy. Maybe it’s a different job, or a bigger TV, or a newer smart phone. Others turn to alcohol, or sex, or drugs to numb the pain and experience just a few minutes of escape. But none of these fill the emptiness in our souls. To borrow the words of Mick Jagger, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”
So what is the answer to our quest for joy? Is this just another fairy tale, like the lost city of El Dorado? Not at all. God knows only He can satisfy our deepest needs and desires. And in verses 6-7, he invites you to turn to Jesus with a humble heart:
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”Have you trusted in Christ while He may be found? Isaiah 55 invites you to experience that joy today.
This article first appeared in today's edition of our local newspaper, The Hi Desert Star
Photo credit: nuchylee
