One of the many beauties of Christ is that He is unique among major religious figures. The God of the Bible is the only God that constantly seeks us. In Islam, one must ascribe to a daily regimen of prayer, fasting, and devotion. In Buddhism, one searches for Buddha and inner piece. Christianity is the only religion that, at its root, has its God constantly seeking us. The manifestation of that search is seen very clearly in chapter 55 of Isaiah. We still have to do our part, however. It is not an automatic salvation just because God is coming to us to make things easier. Our part of the transaction is simple: we must only accept His gift and welcome Him when He comes.
1 "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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near. – Isaiah 55:1-6
The very first verse here illustrates beautifully that this gift is free. We do not have to pay for this salvation. It is available for rich and poor alike. It is God's gift to us through His Son Jesus Christ. He is constantly seeking us even when we are not seeking Him. At all times, God is knocking on the door of our heart, separating Himself from other beliefs because He is an active participant in wanting us as His. Whenever His Word is shouted, it does not return void because it is constantly seeking. If He does not find one person, He will find another. Imagine this repeated billions of times every second as He is seeking the hearts of every human on earth. That is something I simply cannot get my mind around.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. – Isaiah 55:9-11
The poetic vision of the power of God throughout this chapter is incredible. I don't think it is something we can even begin to comprehend. This past fall, I attended a football game at Michigan Stadium. At the time, it was the largest football stadium in the United States. That day, there were more than 110,000 people in the stands. It was an overwhelming sight to see that many people in one place. Consider that God was knocking on the hearts of every single person there at that time, asking them to come to Him. Undoubtedly there were some there that had already accepted this gift, but some that had not. Now imagine if there had been someone preaching the Word of God that day? From this verse we are guaranteed that it would have bore fruit. In the grand scheme of things, 110,000 people is still an incredibly small fraction of the 6,500,000,000 people currently on the planet. Still, God is working on all of those hearts at the same time. To me, that is nothing short of astounding.
TODAY'S QUESTIONS:
1. How do you perpetuate the Word of God?
2. How do you see God knocking on the door of your heart?
3. Where do you see the Word of God bearing fruit in your life?
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