Isaiah 55:1 (ESV)

“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.

Here is the good news chapter! The people of God should celebrate. Here is the invitation to restoration. Here God promises his people that they will be restored. Nations will come to them. The wicked will forsake their ways. His people will flourish. Every word from God’s mouth will accomplish his purpose.

This reminds me of Psalm 137:4, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” As Isaiah writes his prophecy the people of God are facing invasion and deportation. Psalm 137 is written from the perspective of a deported people. How can one sing and celebrate when facing potential ruin, or experiencing devastation? How can a people sing and celebrate when their homes have been flooded, flattened, or burned? How can one sing and celebrate when they are at the physical peak of life and their health deteriorates? How can one sing and celebrate when they can’t get a decent job, their car breaks down, and their shelves are empty? “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?”

We can sing because there is good news. We can sing because God’s invitation costs us nothing. This reminds me of the chorus to the hymn He Paid a Debt.

He paid a debt He did not owe,

I owed a debt I could not pay,

I needed someone to wash my sin away

And now I sing that brand new song: Amazing Grace

For Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay

This is the Good News that causes us to sing. The celebration of the believer is not based on current peace and prosperity. It is based on the promise of God. That is why Hebrews reminds us that all those people who believed God in Hebrews 11 “did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb 11:39-40), “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2Cor 5:7).

How can we sing and celebrate when everything seems to be going wrong? We can celebrate because the good news is that our current pain is only temporary. God’s promises are eternal.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We can be assured that God’s thoughts, God’s ways, and God’s words will come to pass. He will accomplish his purpose and we will see the goodness of God. So, let me suggest that today, whatever your circumstances, take some time to sing and celebrate the goodness of God and the free gift of life. “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy” (Is 55:2)? Today, take some time to sing.