February 4th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Invitation to a Feast

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Opening Prayer

Lord, today I need a desire to do Your will for me. I want to fulfill Your purposes in every way.

Read Isaiah 55:1-13

[1] “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. [2] 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 your soul will delight in the richest of fare. [3] 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. [4] See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. [5] 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.” [6] Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. [7] Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. [8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. [9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. [10] 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, [11] 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. [12] 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. [13] Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“The object in life is to be rich towards God” (John Ortberg). This is true wealth.

Think Further

This invitation is to those who are thirsty and hungry, but who are unable to buy food and drink. It points to our spiritual condition where, from time to time, we are aware of our deepest needs, but also of our bankruptcy and powerlessness to meet those needs. God steps in and issues this urgent, persistent and warm invitation (“Come…come…Come…,” v 1). We eat with our mouths and listen with our ears; here spiritual mouths and ears are indicated. Come and eat, come and listen (1-3). We are invited to come to God (3), not so much to the things God is offering, but to him. He will personally feed our souls and sustain us with his truth and love.

The church is the place where the Word is preached and we gather at the Lord’s Table. There, as we encounter the ministry of the Word and Table, God feeds us through our spiritual mouths and ears. God gives his promise that, just as rain is sent from heaven to produce a bountiful harvest on earth, God’s Word reaches us to produce a great spiritual harvest in our lives (10-12). What we must do is to come to God with faith and to seek him earnestly. A soul that does this will never go hungry. The acts of coming to God and eating, and of seeking God and listening to him are related. In both, we are introduced to the thoughts and ways of God that are different and higher than our own thoughts and ways (8,9). As we discover God’s ways, we can then abandon our ways in order to pursue his. When we do so, our hearts will burst forth with joyful song and be replenished with fresh crops and fruit (12,13). Come, seek, eat, and listen.

Apply

How well you are feeding on Christ and listening to him will determine how healthy and holy your soul is. Ponder this in relationship to your life.

Closing prayer

Patient Father, I don’t want to be like those who know about You but don’t know You. I want more than spiritual information, I want spiritual transformation.

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