"Like a watered garden…"

[JoanneF]

“…if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday…” (Isa. 58:10)

There is a condition at the beginning of this verse that tells us what we need to do in order to have our light rise and shine. This condition is to comfort and satisfy afflicted souls. It reminds me of the beautiful prayer/poem by A. E. Hamilton that Mrs. Eddy included at the end of Retrospection and Introspection (p.95):

Ask God to give thee skill
In comfort’s art:
That thou may’st consecrated be
And set apart
Unto a life of sympathy.
For heavy is the weight of ill
In every heart;
And comforters are needed much
Of Christlike touch.

Only as I do this, shall I “be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isa. 58:11) Barnes Notes writes: “Like paradise…a most beautiful image to denote continued prosperity and blessedness — an image that would be particularly striking in the East. The ideas of happiness in the Oriental world consisted much in pleasant gardens, running streams, and ever-flowing fountains, and nothing can more beautifully express the blessedness of the continued favor of the Almighty.” Could there be any better substance than God’s blessedness?

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