Jesus calls out to the people of the world – If you are hungry or thirsty, come to me and be satisfied (Isaiah 55:1). The only one who can truly satisfy us is God. Everything else in the world will leave our souls empty.
God calls out to the poor of the world – if you have no money, come and eat! A poor person doesn’t have resources. He has run out, and now he lacks things. He can’t buy any more from the world because maybe he’s already spent all that he had. It’s like the bleeding woman who spent all of her resources on doctors who didn’t make her any better, but she only got worse. The world operates on the basis of money, and if you want to have any fun in the world you’ll have to pay for it, and it can be expensive. But God says that when the poor and needy seek water and there is none, God will satisfy them (Isaiah 41:17-18). When we’ve tried all there is to try in the world and found out that it’s empty, God is willing to receive us, heal us, and fill us with himself.
We can come to God and don’t have to pay any money, and he will give us true satisfaction.
God asks why do you spend money for things that don’t satisfy? Why spend so much time and energy doing things that will ultimately only leave you empty? You buy things, but they don’t nourish or feed you. You do things, but they leave you empty and hurting. God asks, “why do you do this?” He says we need to come to him.
God tells us to listen to him. We need to hear God’s word. Jesus is the one who will satisfy us, and he is the word of God. His word is revealed in the Bible, and this is the bread by which we will live. The word of God is like food. It is like bread (Matthew 4:4), honey, milk (1 Peter 2:2), and meat. This is the food that we need. Maybe we’ve known this, but we haven’t really believed it or experienced it, and that is why we’re looking for satisfaction elsewhere. But God says that true satisfaction is only found in him, specifically in his word. We need to actually believe this and turn to the word of God to fill us.
We need the new wine. The new wine is God’s love (Song of Solomon 1:2,4). There is nothing better than experiencing the love of God. And this love is available freely to all who come to Jesus. He loves us so much that he gave his life for us on the cross.
We are to delight ourselves in God. God wants us to delight in him and find joy in him. Our greatest happiness is in God, it’s not in anything else. No hobby, no relationship, no entertainment is a substitute for God. If we can draw on God, then we won’t need these other things to satisfy us. We can become a source of life and blessing, rather than needing things from the world.
Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). He said if people come to him, they will never be hungry or thirsty again. He is the living bread who came down from heaven. He shouted out to people, “If you’re thirsty, come to me and drink!” (John 7:37).
Once Jesus met a woman who was chasing after all kinds of things that only left her empty. Jesus told her that if she keeps drinking dead water she’ll be thirsty again, but if she drinks the living water of heaven she will have a living fountain of water inside her. We need the living water of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives us living bread and living water. The world provides dead food that has no nutritive value, and we don’t need this. We need the living food that comes from God so we can be spiritually alive and full of vitality.
God’s people sometimes turn to the broken pots of the world that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Like parched people in a desert, they press their dry lips against the broken things of the world, trying to satisfy the longing of their souls. They turn from God and waste hours of their lives in empty and vain pursuits, only to feel drained at the end.
This leads to spiritual dryness because the world can never satisfy (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
It’s ok to have hunger in our souls, because this hunger tells us we need God. We need to guard this hunger. Don’t feed it with other things. If you’re hungry at 11:30 and eat 2 donuts, then you won’t be able to eat the healthy food available for lunch. If you’re hungry and fill your soul with the meaningless things of the world, then you won’t have any hunger left for God. We don’t need spiritual junk food. We need God.
The world is empty and it is passing away (1 John 2:16-17). We are not to love the world neither the things in the world, for these things feed our flesh, not our spirit. The flesh needs to be crucified, not fed. It doesn’t make sense to feed our flesh and weaken our spirit. The world is like a desert for the spirit-man, and so we need to starve ourselves of the world so we can glut ourselves on God. Why would we waste time on anything else? What would be the purpose?
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you oh God. My soul longs for you, as in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water (Psalm 42:1-2). We need to turn our hungry souls to God and allow him to feed us. May our eyes be opened to see how good God is. He is the most awesome, glorious, and majestic person in the universe.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him (Psalm 34:8).
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