Text:
Isaiah 55:1-9
June 9, 2013.
INTRODUCTION:
1) A foolish bird: In
2) All foolish men: This kind of foolishness is
not limited to birds. Mankind throughout human history had been working very
hard to find satisfaction of his inner thirsts in wrong places for many
centuries. During the exile in
REASONS OF INNER THIRSTS: Why are we thirsty in our
soul?
1) Man is thirsty of self-worth: While the objects may be
different, the purpose is the same: Man needs to feel he is important, he is
worthy. This is for self-satisfaction and value of his existence.
2) Man is thirst of
recognition: Different
people have different things to earn his recognition but we all have that inner
thirst to be recognized. We want to be somebody special.
3) Man is thirsty of security: Security is one of the
primitive survival needs man was born to have. It is
more obvious in today¡¯s world than ever before from personal level to national
level. While means of security may be different from person to person, we all
are aware of the importance of being secured.
4) Man is thirst of meaning: Meaning of life is the
core of fulfillment once the basics of life are met. Man wants to feel
meaningful of his life to feel worthy of his existence. That is why some highly
successful people took their own lives when they didn¡¯t feel their lives had
any meaning. No wonder Jesus said, ¡°Man does not live on bread alone but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.¡± (Matt 4:4) Man can only find
meaning of his life in the word of God.
HUMAN MEANS TO QUENCH INNER
THIRSTS:
1) Money is number one: In every culture, every
age, among all people of all age groups, everyone loves money and believes that
money will quench that most inner thirst of life. Great majority of people
believe that if they have money, lots of money, their life will be very
different for the better. Today someone sent me a picture of a man in India who
spent US$2,100,000 to make a shirt of gold with a gold belt and all the
ornaments weighing about 20 pounds on his neck and both arms and 8 of his 10
fingers. He believed that even few ladies would be drawn to him by his look,
but all would by his gold shirt. Historically, money does play a role in making
some people feel good about themselves.
2) Love is number two: Love is a universal symbol
of meaning of life, particularly to those who are more inclined to emotional
needs. Love is very important to all people in all ages in history. Many
stories of love inspired beautiful writing of poems, books, drama and movies.
So many people take love as the whole focus of their life: love from family and
friends, people around them in school and at work. Sometimes, they misinterpret
friendship as love relationship and get into many troubles. But we all agree
love makes life sweet and adds some glitters in our mind and things we do. We
all long for love from others and we want to love them in return.
3) Fame is number three: Fame is the same as name,
reputation and popularity. It was said that before Charles de Gaulle, former
French president, died, he asked that on his tombstone, there won¡¯t be anything
else except his name, Charles de Gaulle. He insisted this because he believed
that his name is more than enough for his countrymen to recognize him and his
legacy. Lots of people, mostly the rich and famous, hade done so much to build
fame on their name by unusual ways such as memorial and statues, buildings,
land marks or even towns and cities. These and others believe that name or fame
is what they deserve and they wanted people of generations to come to continue
remember their name and their legacy. The world learns to cater to this people
by created Hall of Fames to honor heroes of sports, music and others. That is
why we have presidential libraries of U S presidents in recent history to keep
their name and glory last longer. But hungry for fame led to punishment from
God very early in human history. (Genesis 11:1-9)
4) The next number is power: The most obvious hunger
for power is in political arena: those who had been in high positions still
dream for higher or the highest position of power. Most of these people
campaigned for political positions not because of their love for their country,
but for their own position of power. We witness many of these political leader
are not the best people or the most talented, qualified people the country
needs, but people most greedy and hungry for power and position. That is why we
see so much corruption and chaos in politics everywhere including our nation.
Hungry for power is not limited to politics, it is also in business world and
many other levels of society. The desire of power to control is another way to
quench inner thirst.
BETTER WAYS TO QUENCH YOUR
THIRSTS:
(Isaiah 55:1-9)
1) You need to know where to go: ¡°Come, all you who are
thirsty. Come to the waters, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without cost.¡± (55:1) To quench any and all inner thirsts, you need
to know where to get help. In 55:1, God extended his invitation four times when
he used the word ¡°come¡±. If you are serious in looking for true and long-term
satisfaction of your soul, you need to come to God, for he is the one who
created your soul and knows how to meet its thirsts. Don¡¯t go to anyone else or
any other place to seek help because they can¡¯t help you like God can.
2) You need to know whom to
listen:
¡°Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the
riches of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live.¡±
(5:2-3) Four times God asked those who have inner thirsts to listen to him or
to give him their ears. But in fact, most people turn to listen to social media
and secular philosophy. Many of the soul hungry spent millions of dollars buy
books written by men and spent millions of hours listen to so called experts
for a happy life. In fact all we need to do is listen to the word of God, the
Holy Bible, expounded by servants of God, or study it with men and women who
fear God and follow his steps.
3) You need to know who can
help: ¡°Seek
the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.¡± (55:6) Most
people will seek help from those they believe capable of helping them when they
have needs. Instead of seeking help from human, God calls us to seek him and he
promises us we will find him. God is never far away, he is very close to your
heart. Jesus invites you ¡°Come, whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev. 22:17)
4) You need to know the best
wisdom: ¡°As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways;
and my thoughts than your thoughts.¡± (55:9)This is about our faith in the
almighty God: he knows better, his plans are better than our plans, he knows
what he is doing and he always has our best interest in mind. God¡¯s way of
providing what we need to quench our inner thirsts may not exactly what we like
or prefer, but we need to trust his wisdom, power and intention: he will always
do right for our needs much better than anyone can. He can¡¯t do his work if we
don¡¯t trust him.
APPLICATION OF TRUTH:
1) Only God can quench your
thirst: Man
was created with a soul in him. He created man as the crown jewel of all his
creation. (Genesis 2:7) Man will never feel complete when his soul is
disconnected with God. No amount of anything of this world may fill that
spiritual vacuum until it is filled with the spirit giver, God. So, it is
normal for man to feel hungry and thirsty without God. The only solution to
this spiritual problem is for man to get back to God, to believe in him, to
know God¡¯s love, grace and forgiveness of his sins. If you are feeling empty
and meaningless on the inside, now you know where you can get relief.
2) Only Jesus is the living
water:
¡°Jesus answered: Everyone drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever
drinks the water I give will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.¡± (John 4:13-14) No
one needs any explanation on this Bible verse. Jesus pointed out the useless
way man tries to satisfy his inner thirst with water of the world. He offers
the only way to quench the inner thirst in man that is to receive the spiritual
water he gives and that water he gives will become a living spring that will
never run dried. If you are hungry and thirsty or you know someone is, come to
Jesus and ask for that living water from him to quench your thirsty soul
without delay.