LEARNING DAILY

 

Isaiah 55:1-2, “Is anyone thirsty?  Come and drink – even if you have no money!  Come, take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free!  Why spend your money on food that does not give strength?  Why pay for food that does you no good?  Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for your soul!

 

I have often referred to Matthew 5:6 because to hunger and thirst for forgiveness is a prerequisite for salvation and being in a right with God.  The Israelites had abandoned God and His righteousness.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God is inviting them to return to Him and be restored to fellowship and the blessings He offers them. 

 

You might be thinking another blog about salvation and you were saved by Jesus’ work on the cross long ago.  I have been wondering about that myself.  Reading and studying Isaiah has made me think through a lot of issues in my life.  As stated above, God’s people had abandoned Him and much of Isaiah’s writing is about His promise that He will not always be angry with them; He will bring them back to Him and restore blessings that are greater than before their abandonment.  Those thoughts bring me to the present day, to you and me.  Hungering and thirsting for God and His righteousness are vital conditions for receiving the fullness of His Spirit.  The promise of Matthew 5:6 is that those who hunger and thirst for Him will be filled.

 

My fear is that we might be too busy with living life that the hunger and thirst is for something else.  I do not want any of us to be “spending money” on that which does not give strength or does us no good.  There is so much to distract us from the really important issues of a walking on the narrow way.  My encouragement is to find time each day to be with the Lord – just you and Him!  That is quality time where you read His Word and pray.  That will increase your faith because you get to know who God is.  It will help you know when you get too close to the edge of the narrow way or even step off of it.  That’s the time to repent of what caused you to do so and get back on the narrow way. 

 

Isaiah stated that the water to drink was free.  If there was a cost no one could afford it because the cost would be too high.  The JSESB states the cost demands one’s heart and faith in Jesus Christ.  The price is to surrender self to order to enter the gate of the sheep pen protected by the Good Shepherd and to walk on the narrow road to His kingdom and eternal life.  We are to be wise with what we have spending out time and whatever amount of money we have on what matters most.

 

This page of the blog will probably not be your favorite; it was difficult to write because of the reflection I have had to do regarding my own walk on the narrow road.  But then sometimes we need to eat the spiritual food that is good for our soul!  I hope you stay with me!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB