Isaiah 55:1-5 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 55:1-5 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 55Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Verse 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Verse 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Verse 4See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Verse 5See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Devotion
Come. Come and be fed. These words are spoken to the Judeans who had been in exile from their homeland for almost sixty years. They were home now, but their needs were many. Yes, houses had been rebuilt, wells dug, and crops planted again, but there were still so many worrisome questions about the future: would they survive, would the crops grow, how long before another enemy attacked.
Many of us experience those same feelings. When the doctor says it’s malignant. When our employer says the business is closing. When we watch a loved one slipping into the grip of dementia. When… when… when….
To the Judeans and to each of us, God says “Come to me, listen. I will make with you an everlasting covenant.” A covenant of life, of forgiveness, of love, of God’s presence with you always.
Prayer
God of the Covenant, grant us your loving grace that we may live in the covenant promise you have given to us. Amen.