Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Isaiah 55: the word of the Lord brings life. He calls us to reckon his superior ways

 In Isaiah 55, the Lord invites us to come to Him and receive good food (food that satisfies) for free. However, we, as sinners, are eating our food that don't really satisfy:

2
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.

This is calling to repentance:

3
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.

6
Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
7
Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor 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.

But, how really we repent? The Lord leads us to repentance through his word:

10
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.

The one who comes to the Lord, receives joy:

12
For you will go out with joy
And be led in peace;
The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13
Instead of the thorn bush, the juniper will come up,
And instead of the stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And [f]it will be a [g]memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting sign which will not be eliminated.”

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