Isaiah 55:1-5 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 55:1-5 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 55Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Verse 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Verse 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Verse 4See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Verse 5See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Devotion
Our son, Anders, has an elaborate bedtime routine. After pajamas and brushing teeth, then stories and songs, he's finally ready. But just when we think his eyes are closing, he sits up straight with one last request: "Oh, I need a drink." He needs water, then he can rest. God's people have always known thirst. This was especially true during the time of exile in Babylon. They thirsted for freedom, for home, for the reminder that the God of their ancestors still cared for them. How sweet a sound it must have been when they first heard the cry: "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you that have no money, come buy and eat!" (Isaiah 55:1). God had come to quench their thirst and give them longed-for rest. God does the same for us as we come again to his living waters and find rest for our souls.
Prayer
God, quench my thirst again this day. Wash me in the waters of my baptism. Bring me back to your kingdom where I, with all your people, find love and rest. Amen.