Scripture Reflections

Isaiah 55, which we read on Sunday, is one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible. The opening offer of grace is so simple and profound—if you are hungry and thirsty, if you are spending your life and energy for something that doesn’t satisfy, if you are poor and in need, come! Come and receive; come and be satisfied!
 
Verse 2 introduces a theme that runs throughout the chapter: “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.” This offer of grace—initially depicted in the imagery of a free meal—is actually the invitation to listen to God. In verse 3, things begin to make even more sense, as God says, “Incline your ear…hear, that your soul may live.” It is in listening to God that we are made alive, which is why the free offer of God’s food is really an offer to come into his presence and listen. Just as food gives and sustains life, so does his word.
 
Verse 11 gives certainty to this offer. God claims that his word “shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” In other words, the free offer of grace, the offer to hear God, is truly an offer to be enlivened, transformed, and fulfilled, because his word never fails. It accomplishes what it says. (Remember Genesis 1!)
 
In the context of this offer to come to God, listen to him, and be enlivened and satisfied, we need to hear vv. 8-9. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” The promise to us is not that we will hear what we want to hear, receive what we want to receive, and be transformed in the way we want to be transformed. God’s thoughts, words, and ways are different than our own, different than we expect, different than we might want. When we come to him to listen to him and be transformed, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that what he will do to us is different than what we might desire.
 
As humbling as this may be—God isn’t interested in fulfilling our dreams, but instead in fulfilling his dreams for us—it is exactly what we need. We spend so much time spending our wages and labor on things that don’t satisfy. God knows what we need and offers it freely to those willing to quit striving for their own vision of life and satisfaction.
 
Steven+