Come and Drink

Isaiah 55:1-12; 1 John 5:1-5

The question for today is, “How thirsty are you?”

I remember quite a few years ago I went on a mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. Even though the mission base was right beside the ocean, the air caused me to be thirsty all the time. When we went on this trip, we were reminded to keep drinking water because your body needed it whether you realized it at the time or not. But we were also warned to not drink the water from any other place than the little shack where there were filters set up. We were to fill our water bottles ONLY from that place.

It is amazing to me just how many different types of beverages there are. I counted at Sam’s the other day and there were 5 sides of isles and cold areas that were totally dedicated with a variety of things that you can utilize to satisfy your thirst.

If we would all readily admit it, we know that life can oftentimes suck us dry. We can get emotionally, physically, and spiritually depleted if we are not careful.

Isaiah in our passage today is talking about spiritual thirst. He says, “EVERYONE who thirsts—that is me and everybody else—come to the waters.”

There are times when we are intensely aware of our needs and desires, including the things we thirst for, and other times when we do not feel the need or desire for anything in particular. Isaiah’s words are like the sign in a dry climate—“Stop! Drink water! You are thirsty whether you realize it or not.”

Medically, Dehydration happens when your body doesn't have as much fluid as it needs. That means your body can't function properly. It is really not much different when we are spiritually dehydrated.

Today we need to hear and respond to what Isaiah is talking about…but not based on what we feel about ourselves at any particular moment. Isaiah is telling something true about ourselves at every moment of our lives.

In Isaiah’s vision everyone who is thirsty gets to drink. Everyone who is hungry gets to eat. It is like a grocery store where everything is free. In this supermarket everyone who stands beside the road with a sign saying WILL WORK FOR FOOD, are pushing carts full of groceries through the checkout line, paying only with a wave and a smile.

In contrast to this, Isaiah’s message goes much deeper—he is saying that we are paying for things we do not need in the first place—spending money on what is not bread and laboring for what does not satisfy us. Isaiah is saying we need a new diet of good and rich food.

HAVE YOU EVER GONE TO SOMEONE’S HOME AND AS SOON AS YOU SIT DOWN THE HOST OFFERS YOU SOMETHING TO DRINK? YOUR ANSWER MAY BE BASED NOT ON WHETHER YOU ARE THIRSTY BUT ON HOW LONG YOU WANT TO STAY. EVEN IF YOU DECLINE, YOUR HOST MAY PERSIST.

        Are you sure? How about a cup of coffee or a soda?

        No, Thank you. I am just fine.

        Not even a glass of water?

IN THIS PASSAGE ISAIAH LEANS ACROSS THE COFFEE TABLE AND SAYS, “HEY, STOP IT! WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE THIRSTY, WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE HUNGRY, YOU NEED WHAT GOD HAS TO GIVE.”

4 different times in two verses we are told to LISTEN—listen so that you may live! In Hebrew hearing is inseparable from taking appropriate action. Not to take action is not to have heard. Whether we admit it or not, even spiritually we can have “selective hearing!”

Isaiah reminds us that a relationship with God based on God’s steadfast love for us is our greatest need and the richest nourishment of our lives, but Isaiah’s words are not the only offer we hear.

We live in a world of constant instant gratification and desire. Everywhere we turn we are bombarded with offers and enticements to fill every imaginable want and desire. Even if we don’t need anything, it is easy to be convinced we really want something.

I had to laugh at myself when thinking about advertisements. I saw one for a new Cuisinart coffee maker. A single cup, grind and brew. A cup of coffee from freshly ground coffee beans is so good compared to the Keurig coffee pods. I thought, “I would love that!”

HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU PLAN ON STOPPING AT THE GROCERY STORE TO PICK UP MILK AND BREAD AND YOU END UP WALKING OUT OF THE STORE WITH A CART FULL AND YOUR WALLET A LOT EMPITIER THAN YOU ANTICIPATED—especially nowadays!!! OH, THAT LOOKS GOOD.

The stores that are best at merchandising put things on ends of isles that will catch your attention and invite you to buy even though you don’t need it!

What is the bottom message of what Isaiah is trying to tell us today—it is that so many things promise to satisfy us but turn out to be wasted calories without any nutrition!

ANY WAY OF LIFE THAT TURNS US AWAY FROM GOD IS A WAY OF LIFE THAT LEADS TO OUR STARVATION AND DEATH. ANY WAY THAT CAUSES US TO DOUBT GOD’S WORD, QUESTION GOD’S WAYS, OR DISCOURAGE US HAS THE POTENTIAL OF RIPING INTO OUR SOULS AND BRINGING DROUGHT TO OUR SPIRITS.

Advent challenges us to consider the reality of our own sinfulness and our need for repentance as we reflect on why Christ came for each us. We may not be immediately aware of how we have wandered away from God—how life has lost its meaning in pursuit of things that do not satisfy. We may not totally see how this attitude or that one has caused us to stray from the center of God’s heart.

Isaiah’s words help us to hear the truth so that we can recommit ourselves to God’s offer of steadfast love and covenant relationship as the trust way for our lives.

In the midst of the false promises for the good life, the full life, the successful life, the happy life, the meaningful life, or the exciting life that are so prevalent in today’s world, Isaiah implores us, “SEEK THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND, CALL UPON HIM WHILE HE IS NEAR; LET THE WICKED FORSAKE THEIR WAY, AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS THEIR THOUGHTS; LET THEM RETURN TO THE LORD, THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY ON THEM, AND TO OUR GOD, FOR HE WILL ABUNDANTLY PARDON.”

I have told this story before but its worth repeating this morning…

Pretty Pete, a bright yellow canary, perched smugly while his doting owner, on her daily cleaning routine, applied the end of her vacuum hose to the bottom of his cage. Distracted by the phone, she tipped upward the nozzle. Immediately, there was a swooshing squawk followed by a thump thump.

Finding Pretty Pete lying among the lint of the canister, she gingerly picked him up, rushed him over to the sink, and cleaned off his cuts and bruises with lukewarm water.

Later, when a friend inquired about Pretty Pete, she said, “He’s OK, I guess. But he didn’t sing much anymore. He just sits on his swing and stares kind of glassy-eyed into space.”

When we get thumped, chances are we do much the same thing as Pretty Pete.

The text of Isaiah is written to those who are broken in spirit. But God’s response is to invite to a place where refreshing and healing can come in a deeper relationship to the Lord. Our passage reminds us that God keeps his word of covenant to his people. He offers his grace.

Yet, in the midst of the grace the imperatives are to return to God, to listen, to seek the Lord. There is a call for holiness, a call for repentance, a call for justice and righteousness, and a call for hope.

During Advent we need to see our lives in relation to what Isaiah is saying.

Psalm 42 comes alongside Isaiah and says this, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for the living God…”

Being thumped with the circumstances of life can wake us up to how thirsty we really are. We search for the water than can satisfy the longing of our souls, the water than will cleanse our wounds, the water that will truly make a difference in our lives.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 4, we have the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus asks her for a drink of water…and then he tells her this, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The events of life can thump our hearts pretty good—but today, I want to invite you to not be a Pretty Pete that has lost your song due to the difficulty—instead let us respond to Isaiah, respond to Psalm 42, respond to Jesus’ invitation to come and drink of Him. For only Jesus can satisfy…only Jesus can make the difference.

When I was pastoring in South Dakota, I had the difficult task of closing one of the three churches I was pastoring. It was a tiny Presbyterian Church of 6 people. In the space of 5 weeks, I had 4 funerals out of that little church and 2 out of the other churches. The closing of the church brought difficulty with the other two and so forth…but I remember my soul being so weary. I felt such deep grief and sorrow of not only losing so many precious people in a short amount of time, but also having to work in gracefully closing that little church.

I read Psalm 42 and remember saying, “O God, I am that deer that is panting for you.”

Seek the Lord, call upon Him—let the Spirit of God well up inside of you as a free flowing river, calling you to drink of God’s goodness, God’s healing, and God’s hope for the future.

Isaiah 55:6 calls out to us, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call to him while he is near.”

We may think that there are other ways to satisfy the longings deep in our souls, but again Isaiah reminds us that the way of God, his thoughts, his ways are higher and different from our earthly ones and we need to heed the call of God to come to Him. To come and drink of His goodness and faithfulness that has been prevalent with His people since the creation of the earth.

Let us drink freely and satisfy the thirst that cries out to us…drink Isaiah says, drink freely of the water that comes from the heart of God—only He can satisfy!