Week 4 - Imagination

“Hear, everyone 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 price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Now you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he

may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

—ISAIAH 55:1-12 (NRSVUE)

Isaiah is speaking to the people of God who have been kicked out of their promised land. Each day is a struggle for God’s people. And yet, the prophet declares God knows what you need and what will sustain you. This is a reminder that we can know the beauty of God’s presence and yet never understand the ways of God (“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8)).

At that time, the people of Israel were outcasts and struggled to survive. Every day, they wrestled between hope and despair. How would it feel to hear these words about great feasts given their circumstances?

When life gets confusing, it may feel natural to reflect on the why—Why does everything feel so difficult? Why do I work so hard and do not feel satisfied? Why is it so hard to find the good? What do you imagine is the “why” for the people of God to whom Isaiah speaks? Have you ever pondered these same questions?