Come and Get It! 

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.

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.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast, sure love for David. —Isaiah 55:1-3

I peeked over the grape-stake fence that encloses our backyard. There, I saw folks running, jogging, walking, shuffling around the track that surrounds the park behind our home. "I used to do that," I thought. And a wave of dissatisfaction washed over me. 

Later, reading the Lenten passage for the day, I came across the text above and realized again that dissatisfaction (“thirst") is the rule, not the exception in this life. Nothing, not even the good things of life can fully satisfy. If I had legs like a Sherpa something would still be amiss. 

Our culture is always telling us in one way or another that something we do, buy, wear, spray on, roll on or ride in will give us endless pleasure. But that's a lie. You “can’t get no satisfaction” from anything in the here and now, no matter what you do. 

Rather Isaiah invites us to come again and again to God and His Word and hear what he has to say. And what does he say? His love for David of old is everlasting, "steadfast and sure." (55:3). And that goes for old David Roper as well!

Whom have I, Lord, but Thee, 

Soul-thirst to satisfy?

Exhaustless spring! 

The waters free! 

All other streams are dry.

Our hearts by Thee are set

On brighter things above;

Strange that we ever should forget

Thine own most faithful love. —Mary Bowley

David Roper

2.19.18