“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 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.
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 ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running 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.
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.
“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.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
Invitation to the Thirsty
Isaiah 55
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Waiting is a rough concept. It is rough because sometimes you may not even know what you are waiting for. Sometimes you hope you are waiting for one thing, and God gives you something totally different. Waiting is weird for me because it implies being static, unmoving, it implies a lack of growth and productivity. It implies waiting for a moment to come and make things happen, instead of creating that moment yourself. I like to know. And waiting throws knowing out the door.
I was reading out of Psalm tonight and trying to keep my ears open to what God wants to show me. I landed in His presence and was so comforted by knowing He hears me and He loves me. I needed that. So I closed my Bible and was about to go to sleep when this Scripture hit me like a ton of bricks. And Lord knows, I know better then to just throw that nudge aside and go to bed. So I looked up the Scripture He spoke to me and it came out of Isaiah, the verse was: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Lets just say this night turned into something I didn't know I needed (typical God, typical). I thought I needed to just feel heard and loved by Jesus, but I really needed to hear that being patient and waiting on God's plans and not my own, is worth it. I need to know that I am taken care of beyond my own understanding. I needed a reminder that I don't need to have it all figured out and whatever happens in the end, as long as I seek Him, will be what it will be. And it will be worth it. And it will be good.
The verse in this chapter "It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it," likewise blew my mind. When we are followers of Christ, what He wants to happen, happens. Boom. How obvious is that but how often do we question that? God is GOD. The universe is under His command and is under His disposal. The beauty in this is we can rest assure that we are not waiting in vain, and there is beauty and purpose in waiting on God, His timing, His plans, His purpose. It WILL be made known and it will achieve the purpose He intends, He tells us that.
