Year 9, Day 14: Isaiah 30

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Here lies another chapter of judgment.  That’s a promise, not a threat.  There is much to learn from chapters of judgment.  It is said that the human brain learns 8 times more when recovering from a mistake than when experiencing victory.  That means that this chapter should contain some great lessons for us!

First of all, God speaks to the Hebrew leaders again.  He knows that they plan to seek help from Egypt.  He knows that they are inherently saying that they feel God is powerless to save them.  He knows the insult they pour out when they search for salvation in things other than Him.  The same applies to us as well.  When we turn to salvation from sources other than God – our bank accounts, our possessions, other people, etc – we send a clear message to God about our belief in His ability to save us.

This brings us to Isaiah 30:18. This verse is my new favorite verse for the day.  “Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you.”  It is natural to hear that as a verse of hope, but I believe it is a threat.  The question is, why would God wait to be gracious?  Cannot God be gracious now?  Of course He can!  The reason God waits to be gracious is because the people aren’t ready.  The rebellion of the people is causing God to wait!  God will wait to be gracious until the people are ready to receive His grace.  There is a big lesson here, too.  God is more than capable of being gracious.  However, He is also more than capable of keeping His graciousness from being wasted on people unwilling to receive it.  It’s important to keep ourselves in a position of being ready to receive His grace instead of convincing Him to wait to be gracious to us.

We then come to the end.  There is promise of redemption.  There is promise of a return to provision and life.  There is a promise for the freedom from oppression.  That time comes into being when we are willing to cast aside our idols and wish them to begone.  Then the Lord will hear us.  Then He will answer us.  Then He will teach us His ways.  Then we will walk in His ways.

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