Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
THIRST is one of the most powerful forces in the human experience, would you agree? How is it that infants are born with a God given thirst and ability to suck, and even a natural sense to seek their mother’s breast? Perhaps in view of that God says: “Come, all you who are thirsty…” Yes, I’m still on the journey with the old prophet Isaiah and that’s how he begins his 55th chapter. God has given every person a thirst and all of our lives we seek to find something that will quench and satisfy our God given thirst. Let’s consider that today.
I currently live in the southern USA and since moving here I’ve discovered a very powerful thirst quencher called “sweet tea”! Of course, there’s an entire industry built on providing thirst quenching beverages and most parts of the world have their local favorite thirst quencher.
But then there are thirsts that are not satisfied with a beverage. These are deep ‘soul thirsts’ that seek the satisfaction of a best friend, or a significant and memorable accomplishment, or realization of a long-held dream, or a life purpose, or ultimately a relationship with God.
Pause here a few seconds and consider these questions with me:
* In your lifetime what have been some of your thirsts which awakened in you driving passion, a determination to find your thirst quencher?
* How far did you go; how long did it take you to finally find that which quenched your deepest thirsts?
* What price did you pay in time or effort or even finances? What were those thirst quenchers?
* But here’s a more important question: how long did your ‘quench’ last before you found yourself thirsty again and pursuing another thirst quencher?
Have you known people who nearly ruined their lives by chasing ‘thirst quenchers’? Maybe it was that occasional enjoyable social drink that led someone to the enslavement of being an alcoholic. Or maybe a friend inviting another to try a social drug which eventually enslaved them into hard drug addiction? Maybe a casual bet that drew someone into becoming a gambling addict? Maybe the picture of a fully clothed beautiful woman that awakened a lust thirst that drove that person into a pornography addiction? Maybe it was an innocent, brief ‘hi how are you’ conversation that led to an enticement with another person and ultimately an affair!
God has given to each of us AWARENESS of our thirst sensation and a deep desire, almost an unstoppable motivation, to find a quench for our thirsts, right? But if God gave us this thirst, don’t you suppose He also has produced the very best quench for EVERY thirst we have?
And if the God who made us and loves us deeply and wants our lives to be honoring to Him, doesn’t it make sense that God would invite us to find our thirsts quenched by the quenchers HE produced for each of our thirsts?
And one more question: if the devil and his dark kingdom hate God and will do anything to draw us away from God does it make sense that the devil would seek to draw us into artificial, actually enslaving and self-destructive thirst quenchers?
And so, we come to Isaiah 55 and God says: “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 costs. 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. Give ear and come to ME; listen, that you may live…” (Is.55:1-3)
Isaiah wants us to see that the One beckoning thirsty people is God Himself, the God of Israel. And those God is beckoning are first His people who so often and easily have gone astray, pursuing other thirst quenchers, and then have found themselves in very dark, dangerous and difficult places.
The prophets were those men and women through whom God sent His beckoning calls, generation after generation. When the people heard God’s call, repented of their wanderings and returned to God, the historical record shows us there was revival and renewal and restoration to a wonderful season of safety, security, and blessing. Conversely when the people refused to hear the prophets, disregarded or outright rejected God’s beckoning and insisted on continuing their rebellious path, it ALWAYS led them into disaster and despair.
God here is saying HE is the ultimate thirst quencher for every significant thirst or appetite in EVERY person’s life, because HE, our Creator, designed us with thirsts and appetites which ONLY God can quench and satisfy!
Have you found God’s patience with us, men and women created in His image, is amazing and almost unending? So, listen to Isaiah’s next God given message about thirst: “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on HIM while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for HE will freely pardon.” (Is. 55:6,7) It’s true… our God given thirsts last a lifetime, but sometimes people find they’ve been artificially satisfying their God given thirsts, with man-made quenchers, which the devil has camouflaged as helpful, while in fact they are additive or destructive! And sometimes people have been doing this so long that they have lost even the faintest thirst for God.
In some cases, even the thought of God becomes repulsive to these thirsty people who have refused God! That’s why Isaiah wrote: “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on HIM while He is near.“ Is anyone you know, so far from God that they are actually killing their God given thirsts?
That next phrase Isaiah wrote: “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for HE will freely pardon.” It’s extremely powerful, for it assures us that while we may be killing our God given thirst, God is still available and powerful enough to pardon us and restore us into the relationship His thirsts in us have been trying to draw us to all our lives! That’s the power of 2 Peter 3:9!
But the key in this miraculous possibility is that first phrase: “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD.” God stands ready to deliver, ready to free, ready to pardon…but not until the rebellious turn in repentance and forsake their rebellious path!
So, let’s pause and ponder my friends. Are you and I thirsty with God given thirsts that only God Himself can satisfy? Where are our thirsts leading us? What are you pursuing as your favorite thirst quencher? Jesus said to a woman who had come to raw water at the local well: “…whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13,14) Now that’s powerful! Have you experienced this God given, eternal life providing ‘Jesus water’?
Tomorrow we’ll look more closely at this, for today, here’s a thirst-quenching worship song to help us thank God for the thirsts that HE puts in us and how HE is ready to quench them!
Today’s Scripture: Is. 55:1-7.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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