Isaiah 55

Be Still: Lord speak to me and meet with me today. I need you to fill me afresh and guide me in your ways. Amen

Read: Isaiah 55

‘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 labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food……..for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near’

(vv1-2, 8-9)

Encounter:   ‘Yet what can I give him?…. Give my heart’*

Gifts are a fundamental part of our modern Christmas season. When I was young, my dad had a regular Christmas routine: he would go out alone on Christmas Eve to the open-air market and come back with a few trinkets and cheap presents, having spent a couple of pounds. We were delighted to have lots of little presents to open the next morning, but in reality, they weren’t that wonderful - plasticky bits and bobs that were still left on the stalls. But we loved it. Dad had gone to the trouble to go out for us, and it was his personal gift, when we didn’t have much money.  

The first few verses are about gifts. Things that God asks us to ‘buy’ without money. It talks about milk and wine (not bread and water) and ‘rich food’. He wants us to have good things that will bless us and build us up. As a loving father he wants us to choose wisely but we don’t always know what is best for us. 

I love verse 8 - ‘for he has glorified you’. At Spring Harvest, many years ago, I went to a late-night meeting to be prayed for, for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Nothing really happened. I went back to my chalet disappointed. The next morning my reading included verse 5 - ‘I have endowed you with splendour’ and I was reassured that God had answered my prayer. (My wife told me later that my face glowed!). This reminds me of Jesus' words in Luke 11 - ‘how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.' (v13)

Apply: Do we really appreciate and seek God’s best gifts? Paul warned the Corinthians ‘not to accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it” (2 Corinthians 6:1).

Devote: Thank you, Lord, for the many wonderful gifts you give your children. Help us to focus on the things that really matter - for eternity - especially your presence and grace.

*’Carol: In the bleak midwinter’