The time comes in the affairs of nations too when we need to "take stock". The indicators are that, as a nation, we are running dangerously low in our moral and spiritual stocks.
A few years ago Sunday sport was a major issue for the churches. Later, it was Sunday trading. In this district, it came down to seven-day-a-week crushing. None of these was the real issue, yet all of them were symptomatic of a major lowering of our moral and spiritual stocks - steadily going on over a period of time.
As a nation we are recently shocked that some of our sporting heroes are accused of gang rape and other misdemeanours. We had hoped they would be good role-models for our young people. However, sport is now organised so as to rule out practically for competitive sportspersons the building and nurturing of moral and spiritual foundations. We demand of them a better code of conduct, when what is needed is strong and deep resources of faith.
The particulars may be new, but the situation isn't. In Isaiah's time, the Lord's people faced discouragement and despair. The Lord's gracious invitation came to them - "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" (Is. 55.1).
Here is pure unmerited grace. Stocks are empty. Resources are far too low. We can make no plea on the grounds of integrity or worthiness. In a real sense, it is our very poverty and emptiness that qualify us to come and receive from the Lord. It isn't that we need to wait till desperation sets in! We are meant to come and come and come again.
In Jeremiah 1.13 we hear the Lord complain, "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water".
We are to "come to the waters" - that's a spring, not a tank - keep coming to be refreshed, to be replenished. God never gives us a tankful of his living water, or tells us to see how far that will get us. He simply bids us to "come".
And none of us can ever earn or deserve our place in God's favour. His provision is "without money, without cost". The poorest and the richest all can come and be welcome on the same basis.
"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Is. 55.6-7).
Our human situation isn't simply that we somehow experience emptiness and need to be filled. Our thirst isn't some kind of accidental mistake to be corrected. The call to the thirsty is in fact an inclusive call to the wicked, to the evil person. It speaks to all of us in the situation of being away from God.
The truth is that all of us are sinners. As Paul puts it, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3.23). Some of us may not like that diagnosis. We would prefer to think we are just a little dry and in need of spiritual "topping up", of a little refreshing. And the prognosis isn't too good either - "For the wages of sin is death…" (6.23a) - far too radical a description of the direction our lives are headed!
The truth can hurt. Perhaps we have known people who have deliberately used what they call "the truth" to hurt others. Their attitude is harsh, judgmental and self-righteous. God's truth can heal. Not knowing or recognising the truth of our situation is dangerous. We need to know the hard truth of God that we are all sinners and that the wages of sin is death. Otherwise we will never know the healing of God - "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (6.23b).
We know that something is missing in life, that we are thirsty. We don't understand why. God graciously calls us to come, to quench that thirst - freely, undeservedly. The wicked, the evil… cannot pay, don't merit any consideration, but the Lord calls them to come.All that is asked of us - and, yes, it is asked - is that we come - forsaking wicked ways and evil thoughts. "Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Is. 55.7b).
What is needed from our side is a two-fold turn - a turn from sin (which we call repentance) and a turn to the Lord (which we call faith). The Lord is ready and waiting - waiting to have mercy, waiting to freely pardon. We are told to "seek the Lord while he may be found". That doesn't mean he is playing hard to find. Perhaps it means finding ourselves and how far away we have wandered, so we can come back to him.
That brings us back to the stock-taking - knowing our need, grasping the seriousness of our situation so that we will respond to the generous gracious God who is calling out to us, reaching out to us in our need.
So you are thirsty - then "come", he says, "come to the waters". But you have no credit, no credentials - then "come", he says, "buy and eat… without money and without cost".
Of course, that goes right against everything we expect. In one sense, we are always looking for bargains, hoping for "something for nothing" - or as near to it as possible. On the other hand, we believe deep down that "what you pays for is what you gets", as one saying puts it - what you don't pay for can't be worth having. Perhaps as a society we are divided between those who will extract from the system every last thing they can and those who are too proud to ask for help, even when they are desperate.
The Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ, shows the barbarism of Roman scourging and crucifixion in all its horror. Having seen the film this past week, I am sure some folk shouldn't see it - you don't have to be exposed to all that brutality. But was it like that? Possibly worse. But, as the Bible quotation at the head of the film puts it, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Is. 53.5).
The relationship God offers you hasn't been cheap, but it is offered to you without money and without price. The price has already been paid. Then come! Come to the waters! Seek the Lord while he may be found. Now is the time to "turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on you, and to our God, for he will freely pardon"! Take stock of your life, and come!
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