6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55
I was thinking of this verse recently and God’s invitation through the prophet Isaiah to seek and call on Him. Even this simple statement is quite amazing, that Almighty God tells us to come to Him. (In the world we never get directly to the person at the top, but God tells us to approach Him). The chapter begins with the word ‘Come’ four times in the first verse, NIV.
1 Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
The invitation is initially to the thirsty, those wanting and needing to drink. They’re the only people who can truly appreciate His offer! Then the scripture extends the offer to those who can give nothing in return, ‘no money’ and the contrast is even better, they’ll get ‘wine and milk’.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labour on what does not satisfy?
LISTEN, LISTEN TO ME, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
God is calling people to Himself, away from this world’s brief attractions. He warns us they will not satisfy and that we will have wasted our money and our labour for Nothing. Twice in succession, we’re told to LISTEN to Him and we’ll eat the best from His table. This is God’s appeal to those who don’t know Him, but what of His own people? Israel, didn’t follow the Lord but turned to other gods to worship them and forget the Lord, who’d brought them out of captivity and slavery in Egypt. They spent their money and labour on the false and foolish, despite becoming more and more subject to their enemies. Turning away from God and not listening to Him, will leave us at the mercy of this world.
We may think we’ll be alright going off and having a brief dalliance with someone or something outside the Lord but remember in the end nothing else will satisfy, only God.
8 ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.
9 ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
His thoughts and His ways are the only ways to know lasting blessing on our lives.
56 This is what the Lord says:
‘Maintain justice
and do what is right,
FOR MY SALVATION IS CLOSE AT HAND
AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL SOON BE REVEALED.
2 Blessed is the one who does this –
the person who holds it fast,
We’re living in uncertain days now and we’ll need the Lord more than ever. His thoughts and His ways will be the only safe path through the times ahead;
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55
Surely Isaiah’s word speaks to us also in these days.
God bless and keep you today.