Imagine you’re hungry, with only a few coins in your pocket. It’s enough to buy only some coarse brown bread and a bowl of watery soup. That’ll keep you from starving, but it’s far from satisfying. Now, imagine walking into a beautiful hall where a banquet’s been laid out—tables filled with savory meats, fresh vegetables, warm bread, and delicate desserts of all kinds. But rather than a price list, there’s a sign that reads “Free.” Which would you choose?
That’s the issue at the heart of today’s passage. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” our Father asks, when His abundance is free for the taking (v. 2). But that’s precisely what happens when we reject a relationship with God and pursue temporal things that can never fill us.
In the Pensées, Blaise Pascal discusses this overwhelming yearning and concludes that the “infinite abyss” in us “can be filled only by an infinite and immutable object—that is to say, only by God himself.” Thankfully, the true contentment that comes from being united with God is ours for the taking. All we need to do is say yes.
Bible in One Year: Psalm 50-54
