“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.” – Isaiah 55:2
The best things in life are free so they say. But are they? We certainly don’t seem to live that way, do we? Not only are we a society of ravenous consumers, but we are suspicious of anything that is offered for free. Either it is of poor quality, so we believe, or there must be a catch. That is to say it must be free because someone is trying to sell us something, like giving away a camera or set of steak knives for simply taking a tour of some lake property. Is anything really free these days? Surely everything’s got a price.
For several years we owned a small cattle ranch is west Texas. On one particular evening I recall sitting out watching a glorious sunset in the western sky. As the daylight dimmed slowly away stars began to flicker brighter and brighter until the entire heavens were completely illuminated. Only in the country away from city lights can one witness such a spectacular scene. It was breath-taking. And beneath the stars we could hear the quiet sounds of the country night – a gentle breeze rustling through the trees, coyotes yipping off in a distance, fish rising to the surface of the pond making a splash with their tales. No artist could have painted such beauty. There was something about being in the midst of nature that freed my spouse and me to discuss issues in our lives at a deeper level – our hopes and dreams, pains and fears, successes and failures. We felt free and at peace. Money cannot buy what we experienced that evening.
So, let me ask you this. Can you buy friendship? Can you buy nature’s beauty? Can you buy peace or love? Can God’s grace be purchased? No? Then could it in fact be true that the best things in life are free? Listen to the wise words which the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed centuries ago. “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. 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.” The richest of fare! And – get this – it’s free!