Today I received an email from one of my relatives which caused me to look again at one of my favorite quotes from the Book of Isaiah. There are many who decry what has happened to our society and our country and some are quick to blame the President, Congress and each other. We have become a land of malicious talk. A few days ago it began in earnest with the debt ceiling talks, now the Iowa Caucus, and it just keeps getting more malicious. Isaiah points the way to a new consciousness which is really very old if you consider how many years ago Isaiah lived.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” — Isaiah 58: 10-12
Doing away with malicious talk and spending ourselves on behalf of the hungry and oppressed in our midst is a guarantee of the satisfaction of our needs. Radical teaching in a world gone mad.