Day 206 - Come, Listen, Seek & Call

Daily Reading:  Isaiah 55-58

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 cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread,

and your labor on what does now satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me;

hear me, that your soul may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

my faithful love promised to David.

See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander of the peoples.

Surely you will summon nations you know not,

and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he has endowed you with splendor.

Seek the Lord while he may be found

call on him while he is near.

55:1-6

Footnote:  Food costs money, lasts only a short time, and meets only physical needs.  But God offers us free nourishment that feeds our soul. 

How do we get it? 

We come (55:1)

listen (55:2),

seek, and call on God (55:6). 

God' salvation is freely offered, but to nourish our souls we must eagerly receive it.  We will starve spiritually without this food as surely as we will starve physically without our daily bread.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,

declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

55:8,9

Footnote:  The people of Israel were foolish to act as if they knew what God was thinking and planning.  His knowledge and wisdom are far greater than man's.  We are foolish to try to fit God into our mold -- to make his plans and purposes conform to ours.  Instead, we must strive to fit into HIS plans.

Keep reading -- 159 days left!

All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV