Isaiah 55:1-13

Youtube sermon: https://youtu.be/aEOyp0iDi4o?si=8A6D87BkO2sNUKcu

Yesterday I had a therapy session that talked a lot about forgiveness, namely my inability to forgive, desire to give forgiveness, and again this common theme of understanding God's forgiveness for myself. There was a ton of wisdom, themes, images but what stood out was the Isaiah verse.... Isaiah 55. Ain't it be one of those commonly known verses but it's one that has been challenging and fresh to my ears, eyes, and heart.

“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.

2  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

3  Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

I don't think I've ever slowed down enough but isn't really weird that God is asking us to BUY something but without money and without price? That in it of itself is the most paradoxical command I've ever seen. I was walking the park yesterday and saw an ice cream truck and this man has the audacity to not accept apple pay. But he said, we do accept zelle if you order 10 dollars or more.... SIR i do not want 8 ice creams, I just want one. Come, buy and eat without money and without price. If this guy offered what God offers here, it would be "here is an ice cream, I know you don't have cash, but have a simple ice cream on me". That would have been God's response if we copy and paste this excerpt to real life.

And then we get to verse 2. Command again, "delight yourself in rich food". I was listening to the sermon and he quoted C.S. Lewis, " “Our desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  And I think that's what hit me.... in this whole situation, I've been gravitating to hopes that guarantee will not satisfy. I can't lie that I still hope the guy and I will work one day in the future, like that chemistry and desire on so many levels- it's like LORD HOW COULD YOU TAKE THAT AWAY?! Or Lord I want justice for myself for the mold situation and wouldn't it be easier to cling onto bitterness and resentment to feel as if I can hold this against them. But our desires for much deeper things are quenched temporarily by lesser things... and if I'm honest, I have been satisfied with that.

But more than desires being satisfied, there was a huge heart posture of haughtiness and pride that I've probably operated in for quite some time. The art, as some may call it, of self-sufficiency. If I'm going to be honest, the reality has been for me, I don't sin that much and if I do, it's not that bad. I think there is a twisted understanding of who I am and even how I perceive my sin before God. And it was when my therapist pointed out that after Adam and Eve sinned, it became a conversation between them about God instead of a conversation with God Himself. And that landed... I didn't even notice how much easier it is to engage in godly talk with others compared to a relational intimacy with God Himself. Maybe it's an underlying fear that if I actually stood before a holy God, I would actually not be able to stand at all. Which brings me to my final points:

6  “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

7  let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I always thought this verse talked about his sovereignty and his greatness towards us in the midst of unmet plans and desires... and while that is true, if you see the pattern. of "thoughts" and "ways" , it is directly in relation to V7. Unlike humans, God offers something better and something we don't deserve- compassion and abundant forgiveness. There is a infinite capacity for God to not only acknowledge our sin, but to wash them away (Isaiah 1:18). And more so, because of Christ, Jesus offers not only a balance of wrong before God, but He goes even further to adopt us as His own. There is a pardoning and accepting versus just a cancelling of debts that many would assume as sufficient. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not his thoughts and there is promise of His word that it will accomplish all that He has set it out to do in V10-11 that is also echoed in Hebrews 6.

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So conclusion is this, can I take this time even in light of all my hopes and dreams of one day becoming a wife, a mom, a business owner, wrestling with wounds and un-forgiveness in the past and really surrender all the things I've hoped for and entrust it to the Lord? Can I trust that one, He cares, and two, He is far more better than them all put together? Can I build my hope on the God that promises more than I can imagine in Himself rather than the empty and shadows the world I have sought? Only God can do this, only God can change and deposit this in me. So I'm excited and hopeful to see what God will do as I step into faith that feels more scary and ambiguous since it is beyond my own understanding.