“Ho! Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Isaiah 55:1

“Father Have Your speaking in my speaking and teach us by Your Spirit, that we might know you more as the One who meets every need. Thank you!”

Hello there! Are you thirsty?

As I have been meditating on this verse for the last little while, the person being addressed and their condition has stood out to me. I have primarily been pondering over “every one that thirsteth”.

What does it mean to thirst? What are some things that come to your mind? A few things may be: dryness, hot and sweaty, dusty, a scratchy throat, or a cup of cool clean water.

The definition of thirst in Merriam Websters dictionary is:

1. : a sensation of dryness in the mouth and throat associated with a desire for liquids also : the

  bodily condition (as of dehydration) that induces this sensation

2. : a desire or need to drink

This is true of us all, physically, and also, spiritually. However I want us to see an important distinction, to be thirsty is not actually the physical need to drink, or the physical condition of dehydration. To be thirsty is to become conscious or aware of the need that is already present and real, but it is when you are thirsty that you sense that need, you become conscious of your need and seek to meet that need by drinking water. Do you see the important difference between the need and the consciousness of that need? The need to drink is not optional, it is real and present in every person. However not everyone is drinking, and not everyone is thirsty.

There have been several times recently that I have come to the end of a busy day distracted with the many tasks I needed to do and realized that I have not drank any or very little water all day, now, the question is did I need water during the day? The answer is yes, but I didn’t become conscious of that need until the end of the day, (O Lord may it not be the end of the day before we see our need) you see, it was the thirst, the awareness of my lack, not merely the fact that I lacked, that caused me to finally take a drink. There are many people, believers included  that are actually “dehydrated”, but are caught up in the busyness of work, friends, family, education, ministry, and many other things, and are not yet “thirsty”. May the Lord open our ears to hear His calling and may His Spirit awaken us to the need that is there that we too might become thirsty, conscious of our neediness and lack.

So then, here is the question. Are YOU thirsty?

I don’t need to ask you if you need the Lord, because the real fact is, just as we need water,  we all need the Lord desperately. The question is, are you conscious, are we aware of that NEED?

This chapter of Isaiah 55 begins with a call, an invitation to the thirsty, not merely to those who need, but specifically to those who are conscious of that need. I believe that the “Ho” (which in the hebrew is a word that was used to get someones attention) serves two purposes, one, it is a call instructing those who are already thirsty, and two, it is called out in hope that others, yet unconscious to their lack, would become aware and conscious of their lack, in other words they would BECOME THIRSTY! “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…….” Matt 5:6a

Praise the Lord for the next part of this verse. “Ho! Every one that thirsteth, COME YE TO THE WATERS….”

The thirst, the consciousness of lack, is a work of God and is what is needed for us to “COME”. John 6:44a “No one can COME to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” The Father by His Spirit brings us into an awareness of our lack, an awareness that we didn’t have before, but THEN HE, HIMSELF, MEETS THE NEED THAT HE REVEALED! Praise God! God placed a lack, a need in everyone, with the desire and purpose to meet it WITH HIMSELF!

John 7:37b-38 “If ANYONE IS THIRSTY, let him COME TO ME AND DRINK. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, “from his innermost being will flow torrents of living water.”” 

For the one who is thirsty, who has become conscious of their need, the only desire is to have their need met, so if I am thirsty I stop everything to go (or come) get a drink, so may we in the same way stop everything we are doing and come continually to the Lord that He may give us the living water which is really Himself.

“Ho! Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, AND he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Hallelujah there is more!

What will this coming cost? What will the water, wine and milk cost? Well, it won’t cost you money! Our financial status has no bearing on our being able to have this water, because you can’t buy it with money, it is not for sale, it cannot be purchased, IT CAN ONLY BE RECEIVED!

So you may ask, how can I receive this? How do I come to the Water?

Let me ask you this, what does receiving a gift from someone look like? First it requires someone else to give it, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.” John 3:27 If it is has not been given I cannot receive it, but once it is given what would I do to receive it? I would reach out my hand and take it to myself and it would become mine. This happens as we reach forth and take hold of the word of God and make it ours by meditating upon it and treasuring it in our hearts. By keeping it, pondering over it, and allowing it to take root in us, as a seed sown into the soil must remain and to take root in the actual soil, so God’s word must be continually received by thinking upon it and chewing on it over and over, one little piece at a time that it may take root in the soil of our hearts. This is receiving, not just once, but continually.

May the Lord stir us to thirst, draw us that we might come, grant us repentance and may we receive His word in humility that we might come to know the fullness of our Father in a deeper and truer way, or maybe for the first time.

~Ross Holdeman~