Echoes Of His Call

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. John 7:37-38, NIV

ALL OF A SUDDEN I found myself hiding.

I haven’t hidden anything from my husband in a long time, but I did a few days ago. He had asked me not to share with anyone the details of a conversation we had just had. But he asked me after I had already spoken to a girlfriend about it. Sometimes I’m quick on the draw. Too quick. Ready, aim, fire, as they say. And I was afraid to tell him about this, so I hid it from him.

The echoes of Eden still haunt us today, am I right? The hiding. The being afraid. The skirting the issue.

By the next morning, however, I was tired of hiding and muffling God’s Spirit. Hiding is exhausting. So I stepped out from behind the trees and was honest with him. My husband was gracious. He just wanted me to come to him, be honest with him, and not hide.

Isn’t that the fuel for relationships? Coming close. Coming clean. Coming constantly.

We started this section with God’s call through Isaiah to come to Him by faith no matter our impoverished nature, our sin, our issues. To come out from behind the trees and draw close to Him, which is often the opposite response we have when we are riddled with sin.

Let’s close with Jesus, God in the flesh, repeating the call to come. At the Festival of Tabernacles, He echoes His Father’s call from centuries before and beckons His people to come out, come out, wherever they are, and put their faith in Him: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Jesus’ words echo His Father’s call in Isaiah, showing that He is always ready for His children to draw near, to be loved and satisfied by Him alone.

Maybe you’re hiding today. Maybe you said or did something that you regret. Maybe you are avoiding being honest with God. If so, remember this beautiful invitation to come to Him in faithfulness. Remember His call. We can come, grieving and hopeless and anxious and numb. We can come, laughing and joyful and amazed and tender. We can come, limping and broken and sad and done. By grace we can come.

GRACE REFLECTION: Pray with me, “Thank You, God, for calling out in a loud voice, ‘Come.’ Thank You, Jesus, for doing the same. You call me to come. With no money, with my sin-sick heart, with my fig leaves hiding my shame. Thank You, Spirit, for even now, calling me to come. I am coming, Lord Jesus. Here I am.”