The last day of school had finally arrived. I had just finished my fourth-grade year. My friend and I were so excited to begin our summer vacation. We got busy making our plans. We went back and forth saying things like “this summer I want to dig out that fort”. Over and over again we said, “this summer I want to…” You fill in the blank. We had big plans. In our minds summer was going to last forever. However, before I knew it, I was sitting at my desk on the first day of 5th grade being assigned my textbooks for the new school year. Where did the summer go? We had plans!
“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.
It is beautiful isn’t it? God’s Word is exhorting us to come thirsty and come broke. Isn’t that the gospel? It is exactly how we come to God. We do not come to Him with full bellies and fat pockets. We are destitute.
No food
No money and
No way to purchase or eat in our own strength.
Reminds me of this:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Don’t you love how the Word instructs us in our broken state to come and buy and eat.
We might ask: How do we do that?
That, my friend, is the whole point of God’s Word.
You can’t do that in and of yourself! But, you can do that when you look away from our own self’s ability to save. We need a Savior! And we are not it! Remember: we are hungry and broke.
It is in Jesus that we come to God and when we do, the hungry are filled and the broke are made rich in Christ.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and you labor for that which does not satisfy?
Isn’t that what we do in our sinfulness?
We foolishly buy that which does not feed us and that which does not satisfy.
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
God’s Word / The Gospel / The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
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. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Amazing!
“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.
Will you join with me and pray this today?
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I am so glad this is true.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
YES!
God sends His Word to accomplish His eternal purpose.
What is that purpose?
To redeem fallen man!
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
