POVERTY OF THE SOUL
We come across a painting that is so beautiful, that we spend a good deal of money on it and bring it home. We hang it up on our wall and are filled with happiness and pride as we behold it. We marvel at the brush strokes and the colors and gaze on it endlessly for a week, after which we look less at it. As the weeks turn into months, we barely look at it and eventually we replace the dust laden painting with another one. The painting satisfied only transiently. As prosperity increases, why is it that the soul trends in the opposite direction of impoverishment? Isaiah explores this issue and give us some directions.
Invest wisely: “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” (55:2). Much like the painting, we fill our lives with things that cannot feed and satisfy the soul. We need to consciously invest in our souls, and nothing satisfies as much as a relationship with God, because there is a God shaped vacuum in our souls that only God can satisfy.
The best things are free: “Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (55:1) Breathing the air, smelling flowers and talking to friends do not cost money and nothing can be as therapeutic as these. Even more free and rewarding is the opportunity to have a relationship with God and nurture it with prayer, meditation and reflection.
Identify the living waters: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” (55:1) For a thirsty soul, the living waters come from God, and it is in Christ that we have access to these waters. Jesus referred to this in his conversation with the Samaritan woman and said, “Everyone who drinks this (physical) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13,14)
Hear and be rich: “Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live.” (55:3) While you move forward, take action and acquire the wealth of this world, you sit back, hear and embrace the riches for your soul. It is hard for one not inclined to do so, yet can be the easiest and most rewarding experience for one who is determined to rid his soul of poverty.
