Come, everyone who thirsts

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1

Since leaving home in late January, I’ve been in a different city every Sunday.  I have not taken the opportunity to gather with others for worship while I’ve been traveling, and I have not yet looked for a church home here in Mexico.  God is faithful and I’ve been very blessed to be able to listen to sermons online and to meditate on His word.  Still, something deep in my soul longs to worship with the people of God, to draw encouragement from the saints, and to serve and edify my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Being home in Minneapolis last Sunday for the first time in six weeks, I looked forward to Sunday morning worship with a greater than usual anticipation. I was thirsting for the presence of God in the midst of His people.  “I rejoiced when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1.  It is an inexpressible honor and blessing to be able to gather with the local body of Christ.

 

We arrived at the beginning of the worship time.  “I was created to make Your name glorious.”  To lose my voice in the song of the congregation was water to a thirsting soul.  Before and after the service and during the worship time, the people of God stopped to welcome me and encourage me and to pray for me.  Brothers and sisters who partner with me in ministry and who care for my family in my absence.  Brothers and sisters who know my weaknesses and my faults, who understand my temptations and who forbear with me, forgiving and praying for me.  Brothers and sisters I’ve known for 20 years and brothers and sisters I’ve known for a few months.  The kinship of the family of God draws us together as a people dependent on grace.  It was good to be home.

 

 

“Seek the LORD while he may be found;

Call upon him while he is near” Isaiah 55:6