By Dr Edward Tamale-Sali
As we continue to search the scriptures for ways and means by which God has promised to supply all our earthly and spiritual needs, let us look at Isaiah 55:1.
In case it is your fi rst time to read the Good News paper, I would like to encourage you to get copies of prior editions and read about what we have written on this very important subject in the life of a Christian who loves God.
God’s big shopping mall
I have never seen any super- market or shopping mall that has ever put up a promotion reading: “Free Shopping.”
Never! Prophet Isaiah, who lived about 700 years before Je- sus was born, had this revela- tion from God about the coming of our Lord and how Jesus would be our source for everything we ever needed, both spiritually and physically.
Whenever we look for water to quench our thirst, we go to a supermarket or shop and buy bottles at a cost.
In this scripture, God is inviting even those that have no money to enter into His supermarket and get anything they want at no cost. There are no limitation to what one can get. All depends upon what you want according to your desire.
Imagine that in supermarket there are also cars, airplanes, gold bullions, crates of water, dresses, gold ear rings, etc., you can pick and go to counter get a receipt but without paying anything.
This is God’s invitation to all men, women and children living on this planet. In Isaiah 55:2, God is pos- ing this question to you and me: “Why are you spending your money for the things which do not give life?
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And labour for that will not satisfy you? He says bread is food and gives life. If we do not eat food we will starve to death.
This is common knowledge, even a child will understand it. However, this natural water that you need to drink daily requires buying or fetching it from the well.
In other words, it is a continuous process and each time we do it we spend our resources. What scriptures imply is not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense: unconverted persons have nothing to support themselves or pay off their debts with, though they fancy what they have, and that they are rich, and stand in need of nothing.
But sensible souls know they have none, and that they are poor and needy; yet these are invited to come where provisions are to be had, since they are to be had at free cost.
There is a spiritual food that nourishes the inner man and fi lls one’s life in a way and with abundance that all of a person’s material things cannot.
The gift of God
But Jesus challenged it when He said He can give a special type of water which will quench one’s thirst forever! This is well illustrated by His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:6-10).
She refused to give Jesus water by making many excuses. Then Jesus said to her: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, ‘give me to drink’; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). Here Jesus is revealing Himself as the gift of God to the world – to all humanity. She missed the revelation for a moment.
This happens to many of us; when God Himself visits you, may be through a church service, hearing a Christian mes- sage on a radio, or reading a Christian paper like this one, then you start making excuses.
You can potentially miss an encounter of God to your life! But God is merciful; He stretched His hand and saved this woman and revealed Himself to her (John 4:25). Jesus re- vealed Himself as the Messiah.
In the end, we have to understand that the Gospel is for free. It is not for sale. Jesus already paid the price when He shed His blood. When somebody asks you for money before he prays for you, regard him as a false prophet and run away from him or her. Jesus said: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Mathew 10:8).
Jesus is inviting you and me to come to this supermarket and get whatever we need in this life for free. However, you need to personally come forward and receive this gift your- self. You will live a life of abundance in all areas of your life.
drsali@salihospital.com
www.salihospital.com
