“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.”
Isaiah 58:9–12 MSG
I like the way the Amplified version of the Bible says this verse: “And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.” (Isaiah 58:10).
We can’t pour anything out for others unless we are full to overflowing ourselves. That means, it doesn’t work to try to encourage friends if we barely scrape by. We can’t feed the needy when we’re starving.
Jesus wants us to live an abundant life, and when we do—when we are full of His Spirit—we have plenty to share with the people He puts in our lives. That abundant overflow comes from spending time with God. When we pray, listen, read the Bible, meditate on His magnificence, and enjoy fellowship with other believers, we get filled to the brim. Whether we have material wealth or not, we will have spiritual riches to share with others.
We will “glow in the darkness” of the world. People will be drawn to the light they see in us and then our lives will be bathed in the Son’s light, like noon on a clear, bright day.
Father, may I feed Your Word to those who are hungry in order to satisfy their need to know You. I long to shine Your light and joy in dark places. Amen.
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Today’s reading was adapted from Daily Wisdom for Women: 2017 Devotional Collection with permission from Barbour Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reading was written by Ardythe Kolb.