Isaiah 58:9b-14 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 58:9b-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, Verse 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. Verse 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Verse 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Verse 13If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; Verse 14then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Devotion
I ran out of water the first time I hiked the badlands of South Dakota. The day was cool, and I thought I could get by carrying a single bottle of water. I downed the last drop at the end of the trail and then grew increasingly thirsty as I trudged back to my car. The cups full of water I gulped when I reached the place I started provided refreshing relief.
The Israelites who returned home from exile knew all about thirst. They'd lived in "parched places" of body and soul. Upon their homecoming, the prophet Isaiah promised that the Lord would quench their thirst, and make them "like a spring of water" to quench the thirst of others. This is the Lord's promise to us. The Lord satisfies our needs in parched places with gushing grace and mercy. The Lord then pours us into our neighborhoods to refresh a thirsty world.
Prayer
Refreshing God, quench our thirst with the living water only you can provide. Pour out your church into every parched place of a world thirsting for life. Amen.