Psalm 55:1-3a is an invitation for us to partake of the 'food' that money cannot buy!
1 Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy]. 3 Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive;
The Message Bible makes this even more clear and simple!
"Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless?
Come anyway — buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money — everything's free! 2 Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest. 3 Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
The 'food' that comes freely from God, His Word, is the most important life-giving force that there is! When Martha wanted Jesus to tell Mary to get busy with housework instead of listening to Him teach, Jesus replied in this way in Luke 10:41-42:
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. KJV
The ONLY needful thing in the life of a believer is spending time in fellowship with HIM, through His Word, praise and worship, prayer and simple one-on-one communion with Him! When we don't choose the Word, as Mary did, then we will hear this that the Hebrews heard from Paul in Hebrews 5:11-14:
11 Concerning this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight]. 12 For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. 13 For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! 14 But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.
The Message Bible, again, makes things a little clearer, especially going on in to Hebrews 6:1-3:
11 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you've picked up this bad habit of not listening. 12 By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one — baby's milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! 13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God's ways; 14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
6 So come on, let's leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; 2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. 3 God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it!
AMEN! So, let's receive the exhortation, AND correction, where necessary, and move on up to the higher levels of Wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the Word of God so that we may become increasingly more effective Ministers of LIFE! AMEN! Here is Hillsong United with "Say The Word":
Shalom in Him!
