Open invitation from Isaiah the Prophet

Open Invitation from Isaiah the Prophet

Isaiah 55.1 “Come for water, all who are thirsty; though you have no money, come, buy grain and eat. Come, buy wine and milk, not for money, not for a price. 

Three times we are invited – ‘Come’. Sometimes we are so concerned to exalt the power of God and his sovereign call, we forget that God’s love doesn’t compel our love. He invites us to come to Him for all that we need. Money, our capacity to pay our own way, doesn’t matter. God already offers what we need—if we come.

Isaiah 55.2 “Why spend your money for what is not food, your earnings on what will not satisfy? Listen to me and you will fare well, you will enjoy the fat of the land.”

Sometimes we don’t know what’s good for us. We think we do, but we make wrong choices. We yearn to be satisfied with our lives, content, safe, and nourished. Isaiah warned the people of God that they can only be satisfied by the Creator who made them. Instead of pursuing ‘what is not food’, pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Isaiah 55.3 “Come to me and listen to my words, hear me and you will have life. I shall make an everlasting covenant with you, to love you faithfully, as I loved David.”

When Jesus poured wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”, he had in mind verses like this. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, God has made an everlasting covenant to all who come in faith and trust. Once again, this is the God who says, “Come to me, and listen to my words.” This is the God whose love has the strength of an everlasting covenant. We have God’s word on that!

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation