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Come and Partake...
P A R T A K E: // "to take part in or experience something along with others" //
-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/partake
Being a lover and grateful partaker of nourishing foods, this word partaker struck a cord in my soul as I read it in my Bible this morning. You know when Holy Spirit illuminates a word or phrase... it is such an awe inspiring feeling, isn't it?!
Repetition is something to harken to in the Bible, and in this passage of Ephesians 2 (in the Amplified Bible Classic Edition), it is found twice: in verse 5 and 8. Both references are directed toward salvation through Jesus Christ. How beautiful is this?! God does not merely tell us about salvation to let us only see it or smell of it, but to P A R T A K E of it.
Another passage that alludes to a partaking kind of experience is in Psalm 34:8a AMPC:
"O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good!"
Once again we see an invitation to experience the goodness of God. The way that I have found to taste of such unparalleled goodness is in God's Word. Reading it brings such truth, clarity, and conviction to my life... yet enveloped in love that only God can exude.
The final course of this platter of passages Holy Spirit led me to partake of is Isaiah 55:1-3...
"Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].
3 Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David."
What an invitation! God's generosity expressed through the coming, dying and rising of Christ gives us full access to the sweetest gift of all- an eternal relationship with the loving, living God! We can't pay our way to peace or perfection, but in Christ, our debt is paid and our access is freely given to all who confess Him as Lord. Poverty nor past sins are too dire for the cross; Jesus willingly satisfied the penalty. Because of this God says, "...come, buy and eat!" Whatever things our soul may have nibbled on without true satiation can now be exchanged for redemption...
So, then, my friend, come... come and partake.
