Verses that inspire

I'm so excited to share a verse with you today!
I just really feel like the Spirit gave me this and someone out there needs to read it!

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. (Isaiah 58:11)

Super encouraging verse, no?
Is there anything we need to do to be the recipients of this loving care? Well, first, of course, we need a personal relationship with God -- it says He will lead the people He has redeemed. If anyone reading here doesn't have that special relationship, and doesn't know how to receive God's gift of salvation, there's a tab to click on the right-hand side of this blog that will take you to a page that tells you all about it.
I'm going to assume that if you are still reading, you are a believer; you've been redeemed. Now, is there anything else that we need to do in order to grab hold of these verses and experience His loving care? Any directions or guidelines?
And if we find directions, are we going to follow them? We humans tend to rely on our own resources, even when we become believers! We don't feel the need to "read the directions" sometimes. We make mistakes. We sometimes choose the wrong path. We have some epic "fails."

In the verses that precede our focus verse, Isaiah was talking to peeps who were not following the directions they'd been given. They were more eager to obey the laws and practices of religion than to actually live the values of service, compassion, and love. Help their neighbors? They would rather participate in a ritual and maybe fast as a symbol of their righteousness. They would wear sack cloth and toss ashes around, but there wasn't any really significant change in their lifestyle!

I liken this to some peeps nowadays . . . it's easy to slap a bumper sticker with an ichthys on our car, or choose a necklace with a cross on it . . . but real faith has to do with how we treat our neighbors and each other. In verses one through seven of chapter 58, Isaiah challenged the Israelites. He told them their behavior included false humility, quarreling, and even fighting amongst themselves. Isaiah exhorted them that it wasn't a matter of going through a ritual. He said God wanted true repentance and genuine reform: the Israelites needed to be aiding the poor, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. Isaiah pointed out that their fasting had become a reason to boast about how righteous they were -- and they needed to live out their faith by caring for others, instead.

If you have time, take a few moments to read the remainder of the chapter. We'll see that Isaiah gave the Israelites (and us) directions that have nothing to do with rituals. Nothing to do with being pious. Instead, they refer to the very basic concept of "love others as we love ourselves."
Share with others, tell of the gospel, show compassion, talk positively, honor God . . . .  If we will do this, Isaiah says that God will bless us abundantly.