These Cannot be Rationed 7/25/43

Scripture: Isaiah 55

Text: Isaiah 55: 1 “Ho everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

These words from the book of Isaiah sound like an invitation to abundance; water for the thirsty, wine and milk with no price set upon them. A recent translation adds the invitation to buy grain without money.

These are words that are most unfamiliar to our ears, now tuned to the urgency of midsummer, 1943. No one seems now to be offering grain without expecting money. I am not acquainted, personally, with the price of wine; but I do know that there is a price on milk which adds up to a tidy figure each month for a family the size of ours. Even our water is had for a consideration. And we’re glad to be able to get water, and bread, and milk!

Do you remember the talk, until 2 or 3 years ago, about how the world had always been geared to an economy of scarcity? And at last the time had come when the world must be geared to an economy of abundance? Dire consequences were to fall on us unless we learned to accept and handle abundance; oversupplies were a dreaded nightmare - and so on went the dream that seemed so real and that faded again e’er we wakened to the grimness of the present hour.

For now we have ration books, and regulations, and price ceilings and (I’m told) black markets. And we hear of grim want, dire need, and starvation abroad. Every bit of what abundance can be produced is needed by peoples scattered widely over the world, as well as here at home.

Foods of many kinds are strictly limited. Gasoline, tires, shoes are rationed. Some fuel is restricted. Clothing is not unlimited. We are a far cry from the abundance which some feared would upset or swamp our peace time economy. It is not abundance that now quadruples the price of some fruits over the prices charged for the same items last year!

Even our money, and our time and energy are on a sort of ration - partly required, partly voluntary. Everyone has to be concerned with expenditures of time beyond our peacetime efforts that may contribute to winning a war. And as for our money, mounting taxes, and the determination to buy those bonds, puts a necessary limitation on the money.

Now I am not one of those who might complain about all of this rationing of the materials of human existence. I believe that the vast majority of us favor some sort of control, to insure that (in this time of emergency) none of us shall have more than a fair share of the resources that are available; and that all of us may have some of what is necessary, and can be had, for human existence.

If it is true that our defenders are the best fed, and best supplied, troops that have ever been prepared for battle, I am all for it. The sacrifices that most of us are making are slight in comparison with the efforts and sacrifices of our defenders at the various battle fronts.

I feel sure furthermore that we are all willing to be restricted, so that the needy of other nations may also be given at least a minimum of food and equipment in this battle for some kind of decent freedom.

But having said all of this about shortages and rationing of materials, I want to remind you this morning that there are values that are not rationed, and cannot be parceled out by governments. Man needs bread, and meat and fruit and clothing and tools. But man does not live by bread alone!

Hear it ye toilers who work!

Ring it ye bells of the kirk!

Man lives by hope, by courage, by love of life, “by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” [Deuteronomy 8: 3, Matthew 4: 4].

There is no rationing on bravery. Those who counted on the decadence, or cowardice, of democratic peoples, assuming that courage was present sufficiently only in the “superior race” (whatever that might be) are finding themselves disastrously mistaken. Our soldiers, sailors, marines; our pilots, engineers, torpedomen; our farmers, clerks and housewives - all give the lie to any assumed lack of ccourage. Every father or mother, wife or sweetheart of some man doing his duty at a distant post of danger, who keeps chin up and smiling is proof positive that there is no rationing, anywhere, on bravery.

There is no rationing of determination. True, our admirals and generals have it. Our president has it. And so has the boy who sticks to work in his victory garden. So has the man who took in addition to his regular work, an extra job in a defense plant for the duration.

There is no rationing of gratitude. The friendly courtesies, and the considerateness, of a good neighbor are as important as ever; and they deserve my appreciation - and yours. The chirp of a robin, the rustle of green leaves, the freshness of a morning are still gifts of nature that deserve our appreciation. The trust of a toddling child, the integrity of a man, the faithful affection of a wife, the pride of a father or mother, are deserving of unlimited gratitude. The principles of a nation founded on an ideal of righteousness, the right to worship freely, call for profound gratitude, expressed in positive supporting action. The available presence of an almighty hand is a priceless gift to the soul. How dead must be the spirit of any living mortal who has not some heartfelt gratitude from the center of his very being. And it isn’t rationed!

Neither is patriotism. There is no limit to the devotion we may pour out in behalf of our own country (nor, for that matter, to the devotion which other peoples have for their nations.) There is no law against honest efforts at useful citizenship, unless it be a devil’s law. We recognize no restriction on our active desire to see our country live up to the magnificent dignity of its constitution and of its finest traditions. Patriotism is free, and without material price.

There is no rationing of loyalty. I suppose that loyalty can be abused. Dictators and dictatorial governments abuse it. Sometimes men in power attempt to exploit it. But loyalty can’t be bought. It is without price and it is not rationed. The necessity for a true-blue sort of loyalty between husband and wife, between parent and child, between citizen and government, between employer and employee, is as urgent as ever.

There is no need to ration truth, or beauty, or love. Someone is likely to remind me at this point that there seem to be obvious limits on love, especially in wartime! I still believe that the limits need not be heeded unless we will to be limited. The only limits that can be placed on these spiritual values are limits of our own selfish attempting. These values cannot be rationed!

Is there any prohibition against kindness? Are any of us forbidden to seek the gospel of Christ? Has God’s forgiveness been scarce when repentant people have sincerely sought it?

There is grace sufficient to every need and task, and countless folk who had not supposed they could possibly go on in the face of their trials have found that they could indeed, with the power that is forever greater than themselves.

A mother felt that she might as well “just die” when her son was called to duty in the army. But she found that there was no need to cease living after he had left. On the contrary, life took on added meaning as she kept the home fires burning for him. She learned to pray for him, not in desperate fear, but in the strong confidence that God’s care could sustain him.

Bishop Quail, so the story goes, wrestled far into the night with problems that seemed to have no solution. Sleepless, worried, frustrated, anxious he seemed presently to hear the Divine voice say quite simply and plainly, “Quail, you go to bed; I’ll sit up the rest of the night.”

There is no limit to the love of God. “God giveth not the spirit by measure.” (Jeremiah 3: 34) But how he does give the spirit, freely and without restraint!

To the disciples of Christ who waited with all the sincerity of their souls, came a Pentecost. To the faithful Christians of every century has been given the grace to face martyrdom, if need be. Time after time, the faithful have found that the grace of God is not rationed. Of his faithfulness there is no end. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.

Of course it is obvious that the writer in Isaiah is a poet. His is not the voice of a prime minister, nor of a ration board chairman. He is not referring to whole wheat nor to Wisconsin milk, nor to purified city water. These all contribute to the physical welfare of man, whose body has a material value of something less than a dollar’s worth of chemicals.

The poet refers to the spiritual values which feed a man real existence, for which his body is nourished and his mind trained.

Here is unlimited food for man’s spirit!

“Bend your ear, and come to me;

Listen, that you may live!

For an everlasting covenant will I make with you,

The covenant of love which I faithfully promised...”

The only price is this:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; Call upon Him.”

[Isaiah 55: 6].

And to those who seek his bounty?

With joy shall you go out,

And in peace shall you be led;

The mountains and the hills shall break into singing before you,

And all of the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, July 25, 1943