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Overview

Isaiah 55 highlights one of the basic truths of the human experience. There is a Creator. He alone rules the universe. The Creator loves you. Only the Creator can truly satisfy you. 

Isaiah 55:1-3a

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 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. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.”

YHWH wants His children to thrive, to enjoy the world that He has created for them. But they need to understand—only in God is there true satisfaction. Bread, milk and wine cannot bring true satisfaction, but these can be enjoyed—in this life, if our greatest delight is in the God who created the bread and the milk and the wine. 

Ultimately, it is the soul that needs to be nourished. Only the soul continues into the life to come. Even our resurrection bodies we receive (in the future), though fit for eternity, do not grow or change. Again, only the soul. The more we align our souls with God now, the more we enjoy our future inheritance. 

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This might be one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible—if there is a heart of surrender or submission attached to it. God’s ways are not our ways. In one sense, He is so far above us. He is transcendent. He is separate. He is the Holy Other. And yet—God is also a being of imminance or more commonly described—God is near to us. Even from the very beginning, God wanted to be with us. His presence in the Garden of Eden was so beautiful to read about. Walking with God in the cool of the morning. And the amazing part is that as partakers of the new covenant, we are enjoying that fellowship again, through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. 

And yet God is still sovereign. He is wise. The rest we enjoy in this life is directly connected to our willingness to embrace the goodness and wisdom of God. He knows what is best. We are His image-bearer, not the other way around. He is the King of Kings. We are His humble servants. The more we understand that—the more enjoyable our life will be. 

Isaiah 55:10-11

“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, 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.”

I often quote these verses. As I preacher, this helps remind me to cling to the sufficiency of scripture. That all I need to do is unleash God’s word. It is powerful. It will accomplish its purposes. Most of the time, I just need to get out of the way. 

I also think these verses are helpful in discipleship contexts. Of course, there are times we need to flavor our answers with personal experiences or personal wisdom. But even in that, the best advice is advice saturated with the Scriptures. The more we bleed the bible (a reference to John Bunyan) in our discipleship, the more our words will be the words of God. And then, the empowerment of God will flow more aggressively, because we will be leaning on His strength and wisdom, not our own. 

Bottom line: Know God’s word, Trust God’s word. Speak God’s word.