Digging deep

Isaiah 58:9b-12
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if 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.
The 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.
Your 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.

In the cold light of day
when all is set before us
The choices we must make
seem obvious:
Lifting oppression
Halting the slander
Feeding the hungry
Easing others' burdens
And the rewards seem worth seeking.
The trouble is
although the way seems clear
it is not instinctive.
It involves us turning aside
from what has become our default mode:
the struggle to keep ourselves afloat
and to guard against austerity
by holding tightly to what we have
To let go
and trust in God's providence
seems like reckless folly.
To trust that we shall be satisfied
in our caring for others
requires a strength
that is not yet ours.
And so our sojourn
in the wilderness
involves our dredging
for that inner fortitude
that has yet to become
our way of life.
To rekindle
the divine spark
that God has placed
deep within us
until it becomes
the foundation on which
lives are rebuilt.
A quest for justice becomes
a quest for our inner God.

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