Isaiah 55:2-3 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David. English Standard Version (ESV)
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David. English Standard Version (ESV)
Today's verse of the day from Bible Gateway was from verse 6 in this passage and states ""Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near." It is a good reminder, good advice for us to do any day of the year, every day of our lives, but especially in times of trouble, stress or fear. There is little tab after the verse in Bible Gateway that gives you an option to click on it and read the whole chapter. I am familiar with the chapter which begins with "you who are thirsty, come to the waters...even if you have no money, Come, buy and eat!. We may be spiritually drained, empty, out of funds as it were, it doesn't matter, come to Him and He will give you what you need.
As I read today's verse about spending our money on things that don't satisfy I was reminded of the Weight Watchers program that I was following earlier in the year. Each day you are given a certain number of points that you can choose how you will spend them. You can use all of your points on candy, pop, and potato chips but at the end of the day you'll find yourself hungry and desiring something of substance. But if you've used, spent all of your points and you want to stay with the plan, you'll have to go hungry. Jesus offers us Spiritual food that will sustain us, strengthen us, and satisfy us and it won't cost us any points, but we do have to come to Him, carve out some time in our day to seek Him and to feed on His Word. We are to "incline our ear", lean into Him and He will tell us what He has for us.
We can try to live a life for God on our own, without actually spending time with Him. You may ask yourself WWJD, "what would Jesus do?". It is a good start but if it is done without spending time with Him in His Word and praying over it, we end up doing what we think Jesus would do which can be far from what we have in our minds. Verse 8 in the passage states, "for my thoughts are not your thoughts". The best remedy is to carve out that time, spend time with Him and do what He did, do what the Apostle Paul and others did in the power of the Spirit . His Word, His food will accomplish His purposes, it won't return empty (v.11) or leave us empty.
Isaiah 55:8-11English Standard Version (ESV)
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Blessings,
Mike
Isaiah 55:1-7The Message (MSG)
Buy Without Money
55 1-5 "Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I'm doing it to you:
You'll summon nations you've never heard of,
and nations who've never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
I set him up as a witness to the nations,
made him a prince and leader of the nations,
And now I'm doing it to you:
You'll summon nations you've never heard of,
and nations who've never heard of you
will come running to you
Because of me, your God,
because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
6-7 Seek God while he's here to be found,
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
Follow the verse of the day at mikesvotd.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment