Waiting

O. T. #1607  " Waiting"
Jan. 15, 2020
Isaiah 30
And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him. (verse 18)

LET IT GLOW

What am I supposed to do? Which way do I go? Am I supposed to nothing?

Here is the fourth woe. It is a warning given to Judah. Israel fell captive to the Assyrians in 722 B.C.
Don't you know it must have made Judah nervous? We can look back into their history. King Hezekiah reigned for 29 years (716-687 B.C.) and was a good king.

King Hezekiah's advisers urged him to turn to the Egyptians, not to God, for help against the invading Assyrians. Isaiah denounced this reliance. (MacArthur)

We can read the details in 2 Kings 19-20. In a nut shell, this is what happened: The king of Assyria demanded Judah to pay them money. Hezekiah took gold from the Temple to meet those demands.
Then Judah's ambassadors took a caravan of riches and treasures down to Egypt in order to attempt to bribe them to help Judah against Assyria. Meanwhile, King Hezekiah prayed to God to save His people, and He did. There were 185,000 Assyrians killed by the angel of God. They didn't need Egypt's help.

So, that brings us up to the prophesy of Isaiah in this chapter. Instead of hearing God's truth, the people wanted to hear smooth thing and deceits (verse 10). They wanted their ears tickled, not God's judgment was coming if Judah did not repent and listen to Him.

In verse 15, Judah had assurance that by turning to God in true conversion they would rest in the grace of God through salvation. It was God's plan for Judah to find salvation in quietness and in confidence (submission and faith). Did they do it? No, they would not turn to Him. How patient God was toward His children of Judah. In spite of their rebellion, God continued to be faithful and loving to Judah.

Matthew Henry's Commentary suggests:

• In returning to our God, confessing our sins, we can have a changed heart and life.
• When we seek His strength in quietness and in confidence, we can remain calm.
• In continual dependence upon God, we receive His power and goodness.
• As we do so, we can have holy quietness, suppress all turbulence and tumultuous passions, and keep our minds in peace.
• We must rely on God with a holy confidence that He can do what He will and will do what is best for His people.
• This will be our strength and will carry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties we may meet with.

Are we in need of strength, confidence, peace? Return to God and He will supply whatever we need.


LET IT GROW

Waiting on God to answer my prayers is probably the hardest thing for me to do. How about you? Our flesh wants something taken care of, a situation fixed, and fixed now.

Now here is another gold nugget for our soul. Read our key verse again.
What do we learn about God? Matthew Henry explains:

• He will wait (adhere to; long; tarry) to be gracious (to favor; to have mercy upon; have pity upon; to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior.
• He will wait for us to return to Him and seek His face, so He may do what is the best and fittest time to be gracious.
• Then God will receive the most glory and be exalted (to be high; to raise).
• It will come to us with the most pleasing surprise.
• He will continually follow you with His favors, and not let slip any opportunity of being gracious to us.
• He will stir himself to deliver you, will be exalted, will be raised up out of His holy habitation (Zech. 2:13).
• This is so He may appear for you in more than ordinary instances of power and goodness.
• In being gracious, He will hear and answer our prayer, which makes His kindness doubly kind.
• The Lord is a God of judgment, both wise and just in all the disposals of His providence, true to His Word, and tender of His people.
• All are blessed who wait for Him with their prayers and hopes, as well as anticipate their deliverance.

I know this was lengthy, but I could not omit such encouragement.

God is waiting for us to wait for Him. (Kay Arthur)

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! (New International Version)

Judah would not wait for God? Will we wait for God? Or will we rush in and handle the situation on our own and in our own way?


LET IT GO

Daily return to God.
Wait for Him to answer my prayers.
Exalt Him on high, sharing His goodness.