“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

 “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”  From Isaiah 55

The solemn writings of the Prophet Isaiah are reaching their climax here in Chapter 55. Instead of announcing impending doom, the Spirit of God points us to the open door through which repentant sinners are urged to enter where there are already redeemed people from every language and nation, praising God.

On this day, the first after Christmas, we abandon ourselves to the full mercy of God, turn away from the things that would bind us and cling to Jesus who has delivered us from our sin and has placed a heart of humble obedience and joy within in us.

May this holiday season find us praising, without a grumbling thought!