Isaiah 58

Read these words slowly and carefully (even if it takes a few minutes) and listen to what they say:

1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 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.

11 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.

12 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.

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

I recently came across this chapter in Isaiah, and I've been drawn to it ever since. In thinking about what to write today, I couldn't think of anything more piercing or penetrating than the words you just read.

I must admit that when I first read the passage, I heard something wrong. I heard God called the "Repairer of Broken Walls" and the "Restorer of Streets with Dwellings," not that God's people would be called those names should we choose to follow God's desires for us.

God: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer; Father, Son, Spirit; Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Jehovah, Jirah, Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End. God: Repairer of Broken Walls.

To me, that is a beautiful, hopeful, strong image of God...

Even if I heard the original text "wrong."

I find it amazing that scripture is so alive and that God still speaks through words that were written thousands of years ago. I also find it amazing that what we hear one day can be slightly different than what we hear the next--depending on how God is working in our lives in that particular moment of time.

When I first read this passage, I felt as if parts of my heart were breaking because of the events going on around me; therefore, I needed the image of God as Repairer of Broken Walls.

Today, I am drawn not only to that image but also to the reality that God is saying that I, Deanna Deaton, can be a Repairer of Broken Walls if I live out God's call on my life. Wow! Me as a repairer of broken walls...

What about you? How is God using Isaiah 58 to speak to you today?