SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 55
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Come, all you who are thirsty, 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]
Thirsty, hungry, needy, poor, desperate – these adjectives describe the human condition well.
Looking for love, belonging, acceptance, significance, recognition, for a sense of worth and well-being.
One and all, we are looking for what the bible calls ‘shalom’, that sense of inner and outer peace, wholeness.
Where do we look, what do we reach for to fill this deep need, what can satisfy the thirsty soul?
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. [Isaiah 55:6-7]

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” [John 4:10]
Jesus is speaking to the Samaritan woman, whose life story is known to us only through the reference to her many husbands, revealing a painful, desperate journey seeking peace, fulfillment, acceptance.
She is thirsty, but she does not know what she is thirsty for… but she’s about to find out.
Living water, fresh water, water that is healthy and refreshing, this is a symbol of that soul-refreshing experience that we long for, that we thirst for.
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. [John 7:37-39]
We were made to know this kind of soul-satisfaction, but it is only possible by God’s Spirit in us.

Isaiah paints a picture of a sovereign, good God, a God that loves to shower His children with blessing and joy and life and peace.
A God that is at work in the world drawing people back to Himself, that He may accomplish His purpose.
He causes His blessed rain to fall on all people, so that they might look to Him for soul-satisfaction.
I have had moments when I felt this living water flowing within me, times when I felt especially close and especially strong in the Lord.
These are the moments I long for more of… I have tasted, but I am thirsty for more!

PRAYER:
Lord, I am asking, please give me more of this living water! May Your Spirit flow from within me, and overflow through me to others.