“Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
it’s all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.”
Isaiah 55:1-2 NLT
It’s our call to live in the Presence of God. Your call, my call: Drink. Eat what is good.
But what happens when the appetite wanes, when the hurt of the world makes it hard to swallow even a morsel? When the very sustenance that will keep you going, lies untouched and stale?
Despite your broken hallelujah, reach for the bread.
The bandages on my heels happened to catch my eye, suddenly flagging the metaphorically obvious. I’m walking through a season that my shoes don’t seem to fit. Daily, I put them on and try to cushion the pain of the blisters…and keep walking.
I see a beloved mama and children, survivors beyond a car wreck, bruised and broken. I sit across from my child with his heart split open in the reality of saying good-bye to a friend who gave in and gave up, never to hear her voice again. I visit a broken saint who stumbled, conversing through phone and monitor, distraught that her baby might not remember her when she gets out out of jail.
But the food is on the table. Reach for it.
Her playful laugh pushes through hurt in her eyes, my young grandma-friend locked her big dreams inside tiny caskets, yet a second time around. The A-student’s mother suddenly gets calls from the teacher after daddy moves out. The single mom breaks open, telling us it’s too hard, and fears for her child.
There’s a plate waiting and a cup full of goodness to fill you up. Eat. Drink and find satisfaction.
Some seasons are harder than others and like Elijah in 1 Kings 19, the journey into the wilderness can be a barren, exhaustive, lonely hike. But keep going. Be encouraged. The angel’s words to Elijah are my own inspiration when my mind says this road’s too hard:
“Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.” Isaiah 19:5-9
If there’s one thing that keeps me going and keeps me grounded, it’s digesting God’s Word…even when I don’t want to eat. When my broken hallelujah pours a morning cup of coffee and praises Him not with words, but expectation that my strength will be nourished in His daily Bread, I can walk the distance…even when life rubs blisters into my feet.
It’s then I am fed, truly fed with life and hope that comes only from the living, active Word of God. And Jesus Himself.
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
If life is challenging, return to the table and eat.
““The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” Isaiah 55:10-13