Isaiah 55 Study: Come All Who Are Thirsty

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. - Isaiah 55:1

Is God silent in our quest for meaning and fulfillment? Didn’t He create us this way? 

We’ll get to that and more. But first, let’s see how Isaiah 55 opens.

In preceding chapters, we learn of Israel’s continued rebellion against God. But in verse 1 He starts with an invitation from God spoken through His prophet Isaiah. 

Time after time, God reveals how He will be faithful despite Israel’s disobedience. He was using Israel to be His mouthpiece to reconcile the world to Himself.

And eventually bring in the new kingdom: a world rid of worries and injustice — a world in perfect peace and harmony.

Despite how God provided for His people, they continued to abandon His will. Instead of reconciling the nations to God, Israel would align with them and take on their idol-worship. God’s will does not hinge on human contribution.

His promise remained: He would raise up a Servant to accomplish His plans. Though Israel abandoned God, He would never abandon them. 

Our Situation

Israel represents all humanity. We’ve all found ourselves in the same rebellion as Israel. God’s promise remains the same to us: He will never abandon us although we turn our faces from Him. We’ve collectively entangled ourselves in a thicket of thorns when we choose our other loves – or idols – above Him in our lives. 

While our idols promise to bring us fulfillment, they only wrap tightly around us, obscuring our view of God. These false loves serenade us with tales of happiness, a sense of belonging and identity. Lulled by their stories, we don’t see the thorns hooking into our bodies. Suddenly, they control our every move. Their hollow assurances shatter like glass in our hands. Our desires are increasing as our famished bodies grope for anything to satisfy us. We’re more hungry than before. Our cravings are unsatiated. The aches in our soul scream louder now. We can’t seem to hush their cries. Maybe just a small amount of happiness will soothe the endless noise in our soul?

Didn’t He create us this way? Although He may sometimes be silent, He’s ever present. He calls for us to turn our gaze and see Him. He eagerly waits for us to run to Him for help, longing to gently pull off each nettle away from us. He sees the tears in our eyes, He hears our sobs at night. Although we scream and spit in His face, mocking Him and hurling insults at Him — He waits. He keeps calling: come, all who thirst. 

Will we answer His call and let Him help us? Carefully, gently He’ll pull each vine off our skin. It hurts. The thorns are hooked in our skin, pulling and tearing at our skin. 

Bloody, dirty, tired, hungry, tired – we approach Him. 

Reluctantly, we turn to Him because we’ve come to the end of ourselves. We’ve exhausted all our resources. He isn’t our first love, He’s our last resort. And how does He respond? 

God is not petty. He doesn’t wag His finger in our face, mocking our sleepy return to Him. He doesn’t say, “I told you so” while leaving us in the dust of our own consequences.

God is not pushy. He’s steady, His invitation doesn’t waver. He doesn’t get up in our face, screaming for attention. He waits patiently by our side. 

God is not naive. He keeps extending grace to us knowing full well that we will keep failing and falling away from Him. 

No, He’s ready to give of Himself. He’s a good Father. He’s patient with our fickle hearts. He’s ready to forgive. He’s ready to invite us to the table to dine with Him freely. He knows we have no money, He understands our dire situation. He doesn’t love us less because of it, He loves us all the more. 

The Price

God’s invitation is free to us but it doesn’t come at no cost to Him. Notice He uses the word “buy” alongside “without cost.” In previous chapters, Isaiah prophesies the new Servant who will come to redeem His people. Our judgement price was paid through Jesus’ sacrifice. 

God knows we don’t come to His table through our own hard-earned money. We come to His table weary and empty-handed. We have nothing to offer but our thirst. And yet, that is all He asks of us.

Come Thirsty

This invitation is to all who are thirsty. The thirst here is figurative for our need and longing. He will give us what we need and then some. Wine, milk and bread are all symbolic of a rich, vibrant life. He doesn’t promise to satisfy our materialistic hopes and dreams here, but rather satisfy the longing inside the depths of our souls. 

We all search for belonging — to be known, secure and loved. 

The Invitation 

“Come to the waters.” Notice what we don’t do: anything other than taking our needs to Him.

He asks us to come, needy. 

That means, we don’t drop our needs and come to Him in our perceived perfection and wholeness. It also means we don’t sit stagnant in our neediness. He’s asking us to get up and come to Him, with our baggage, with our doubts, with our scars, with our sorrows.

Just come.

Maybe we come to Him as our first choice, or 3rd or 19th or last resort. Either way, we come to Him. He sent His Son to take our shame and guilt away — now, all we need to do is step forward and bring our needs to Him. We crawl to Him, exhausted,  in our dirty, thorn-torn clothes. He graciously awaits us on the other side, waiting to give us what we need.

Will we come forward? Will we answer His invitation?