A Full Life In The Emptiest Of Places ( ISAIAH 58) THE MESSAGE

"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims,

quit gossiping about other people's sins. If you are generous

with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives

will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go.

I will give you full life in the emptiest of places- firm muscles 

strong bones. You'll be like a well watered garden, a gurgling spring

that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those

who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the

community livable again.

"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my day for personal

advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration.

If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money running here and there-

The you will be free to enjoy God! Oh I'll make you ride high and soar above it all.

I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob."

Yes! God says so!

Eugene H. Peterson


Nothing But The Cross


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