Why Spend on Things That Won't Satisfy? - Isaiah 55:2-3

"Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

and your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourself in abundance.

Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that you may live;

and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

according to the faithful mercies shown to David."

(vs 2-3)

Recently, I have found myself thinking a good bit about how we spend our time. As I watch others, as I watch myself, I realize that we spend a large amount of our time and resources on things that truly don't matter worth a hill of beans. We spend our money on things that are gone in a few months, weeks, days, perhaps even minutes. We invest our time in that which is quickly fleeting and fading. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, follows up on the heels of "Ho! Everyone who is thirsty come" with this very thought. He asks us: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and yor wages for what does not satisfy?"

Here He has just offered us living water - yea, more than that - living wine and living milk. He has offered it to everyone who thirsts. He has offered it to us freely by paying the price with His own blood. Take and drink. Yet, how rarely we do take and drink. Instead of taking that which He has freely offered to us, we go and dig and claw and scrape and scrap and spend our money and our lives on counterfit bread and absolute non-satisfaction. The Rollling Stones knew it was true in their hearts - "I just can't get no satisfaction." We are so foolish!

The all-wise Creator speaks to we fully-foolish creatures. He says, "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make and everlasting covenant with you." We would be wise to listen to Wisdom! Here God earnestly presses us, reasons with us, and compassionately reaches out to us. Listen carefully! Don't eat stable droppings - eat of His good bread. Don't fill up on frivolity - delight in abundance. Our wages, the things we naturally earn by our works don't bring life. (The wages of sin is death...). But His free gift is life (...but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.) Listen that you may live!

Don't listen to your self. Listen to Him. Incline your ear and come. Come and live. Come and enter into and eternal covenant with this God who has paid it all.

Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity joined with pow'r; He is able, He is able, He is willing doubt no more; He is willing doubt no more.

Come, ye needy, come and welcome, God's free bounty glorify; true belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh, without money, without money, come to Jesus Christ and buy; come to Jesus Christ and buy.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden, bruised and broken by the fall; if you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all; not the righteous, not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call; sinners Jesus came to call.

Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream; all the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him; this He gives you, this He gives you, 'tis the Spirit's rising beam, 'tis the Spirit's rising beam.

Lo! th'incarnate God, ascended, pleads the merit of His blood; venture on Him, venture wholly, let no other trust intrude; none but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good, can do helpless sinners good.

(Joseph Hart, 1759)