“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. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. Isaiah 55:1-3 (NIV)
Who isn’t thirsty for the Living Water? We all want our cups continually filled to overflowing, right? The human soul apart from Christ lacks continual satisfaction. Yet, all too often, we are seeking it from a dry well. God desires for our souls to find true satisfaction from a well that never runs dry nor costs. He alone fills our cups to overflowing, allowing us to walk in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. As we come to Him weary and heavy laden, He gives us rest. He strengthens us and upholds us with His righteous right hand. He is continually wooing us to “Come to Me”, drawing us with His everlasting love, mercy and kindness. The Creator knows what is best for the created, Amen? He is to be our sufficiency and strength – all else is merely chaff that will be blown away and will never fully satisfy the living soul.
Until we come to Jesus, we are sheep without a Shepherd – wandering about in a trackless waste through this barren land – getting us nowhere fast. In our natural state we remain wanting. But when He enters a life and we fall down at the feet of grace freely given with our iniquities no longer resting squarely upon our shoulders, everything changes. Oh the unspeakable effectiveness of our Lord’s sacrifice! Fully, finally and freely pardoned.
When Jesus enters a life He leads, guides, empowers and directs us with His eye ever upon the “sheep” in His green pasture. Filling our cups so that we are not lacking - as He fills us to overflowing in every way. The “living water” is the gift of the Holy Spirit – empowering, regenerating and guiding us – a continual source of satisfaction which provides us life that is truly life. When we seek to quench our thirst with the world or anything or anyone in it, we will remain thirsty. Nothing else fully satisfies the human soul but the Lord Jesus – it was never created to.
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “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 (NIV)