All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk! (Is 55:1)
We all look for “freebies”. From the time we are very young, we seem to get the idea that free is good.
Many advertisers hook us on products because of our desire for free things.
How many people pay extra when ordering things on television because they say that if you buy one you get the second one absolutely free? Oh yeah, it may be free, but there is a hefty shipping and handling charge on the second item as well. You hardly get it for free.
Because of all of these kinds of things, we tend to look a bit suspiciously on free things. We think, “What’s the catch? What am I going to end up ‘paying’ for this?”
There are many people who live in poverty today. Just as in the days of the prophets, poverty was a widespread condition. Isaiah told his people to come for water, to come for grain, for wine and milk, even if they had no money. Isaiah, of course, was not speaking only about material goods but about spiritual ones as well. Isaiah knew that his people were not only impoverished physically, they were also poor spiritually.
To them, the message was quite clear. God would provide. Salvation is absolutely free. There are no strings attached. Jesus wants to give us eternal life.
Do you thirst for that? Do you hunger for Him? Go to Him and be filled.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for all of those who are steeped in poverty: the physically poor who do not have enough with which to live and the spiritually poor who have lost the way.