Memory, Himself, and Sunsets (Favorite Verses)

More favorites from my regular Bible reading (getting close to the end of the entire-thing project for 2006, and still loving it):

From Isaiah:

I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands... 49:15-16 (sounds romantic, until you remember how deeply we were etched in there with big, hard nails; it's sheer sacrifice)

I will contend with those who contend with you.
49:25 (you don't have any need to take revenge)

Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the Name of the Lord and rely on his God.
50:10 (a good one for bedtime, or alternately, daytime nightmares like the cancer some friends are facing)

I, even I, am He who comforts you.
51:12 (THINK ABOUT IT! GOD HIMSELF! You can't get higher or better than that. It's not a proxy, a substitute, a stand-in, or an emissary, but He Himself, the Ultimate One.)

The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.
53:6 (He undeservingly got Punishment; we undeservingly get Peace. Hard to fathom this kind of love. Yet there it is.)

From Zechariah:

Whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye...
2:8 (oooooooohh)

I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
3:9 (that's one big job)

In your hearts do not think evil of each other.
7:10 (yeah, not even inside the "privacy" of your own hearts)

Finally, Malachi 1:11

My Name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun.
(I just like the phraseology. Here I am "among the nations" -- France last year, England this year, plus our international school is chock full of the world's nationalities -- and as far as I look from dawn to dusk, in any direction, God is great.)