55 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no [a]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
2 “Why do you [b]spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
3 “Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that [c]you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies [d]shown to David.
4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
A leader and commander for the peoples.
5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,
And a nation which knows you not will run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;
For He has glorified you.”
As this chapter begins, it starts off pretty obvious, and echoes a song we just sang on Sunday. Thirsty? Go get some water! But if you’ve got no money, come, buy and eat? Hold on now, how are we going to get wine and milk with no money. Those aren’t cheap–and they get more expensive all the time. Maybe the prophet just wasn’t listening very well?
Verse 2 continues this thread though, so perhaps we should take a second look, as God asks, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and wages for what does not satisfy?” Still confused? God says, “Listen carefully and eat what is good, delight yourself in abundance.” If it wasn’t clear yet, God isn’t talking about food. Or rather He is, but is saying that physical food isn’t going to satisfy us for very long, so we shouldn’t spend all our time, energy, and money on such things.
In v. 3 God tells us to come to Him, and listen to His words, that we may live. Jesus told the woman at the well (John 4) something similar, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
In both cases, it is all about priorities. Yes, our body needs food and water, or we’ll die. But even more important, is that our soul needs God, or, you guessed it, we’ll die. Wait a minute though, I’ve never seen anyone fall over dead from lack of God, have you? No, but if we find ourselves in that state, we are effectively “walking dead”, much like pop culture’s zombies.
We might look alive, but inside we are empty and hollow. We can stuff all sorts of things in there to make it look good, like we’re really having a good time, but it’s not real life. The only real life comes from God, as He tells us in this passage. So don’t settle for anything less, don’t try to fill your life with stuff, or even good works, and forget about the true source.
He is living water and bread and food, the very One our souls crave, for whom we ought to hunger and thirst. Don’t ignore your soul, but go to God and get real sustenance, that will last you an eternity, a “well of water springing up to eternal life.” Let Him worry about the caring for our physical needs. I promise, He’s way better at that than we are anyway!