Who doesn’t want something for nothing? That’s what God promises at the beginning of Isaiah 55. And further on down in the chapter, we find out the details of God’s offer: an everlasting covenant with God Himself (55:3), including God’s compassion and pardon for our sins (55:7).

So, why don’t more people want to receive such a free gift? Why don’t more people accept God’s grace offered through faith alone in Christ alone?

Maybe it’s because many people aren’t aware of their hunger and thirst. In other words, many people just aren’t aware that they have a sin problem. After all, they’ve been focused on themselves and their desires for their whole lives – so how could they know there’s another way to live, the way of love for God and for others?

Or maybe it’s because too many people are hungry and thirsty for the wrong things. As verse 2 points out, many people spend their time and energy, not to mention their money, on things that turn out in the long run to be unsatisfying. Sex, drugs, alcohol, violence – all these things promise to make us feel good, but in the end only yield disease, loneliness, and death.

Or the problem could be that folks just don’t want to abandon the illusion that they are in control of their own lives. For coming to Christ as Savior also requires bowing the knee to Him as Lord. And that, in turn, means we must allow His Word to govern and sometimes to override our own thoughts, feelings and desires.

But because God’s understanding is in fact so much greater than our own, we would be foolish to think we know better than He does (55:8-9). And yet that’s what we sinners do all the time, insisting either that we don’t need a Savior, or that God should do what we want in the way we want it, and according to our timetable.

But the good news is that God’s never-failing Word (v. 11) has come even to stubborn, willful sinners like us, announcing His mercy and extending His free pardon. For in Jesus Christ, the Son of David, God has kept His promise not only to provide the Savior described in chapter 53. No, Jesus is also the leader and commander of all the peoples (55:4), welcoming those from every tribe and tongue and nation who will trust Him and follow Him.

So, will we keep on trying to get by on our own strength? Will we keep on trying to have it our own way? Or will we surrender to Christ and allow God to spread His table for us for free?

Isaiah 55:1-13 (NASB)

“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.
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.
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.
4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples.
5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man 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, Neither 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.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
12 “For you will go out with joy, And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up; And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up; And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”