Returning and Rest

 

Isaiah 30:1-18

The Lord longs to be gracious to you

Many truths of the Bible, like this one found in Isaiah 30:1-18, seems to be irrelevant to people who seek practical and pragmatic ways of living. How could one receive power through quietness and trust? This sounds ridiculous to the modern-day society.

We shall look into Isaiah 30:1-18 to discover how we could be saved and empowered in a turbulent and changing world today. I summarize it into three points as follow:

Being Practical and Pragmatic are not Golden

To be practical or pragmatic is a prevalent in current times. It is an ideology that values everything by questioning whether it is practical or not for the people.

Thus, people tend to measure everything in accordance with its results and achievements. They measure their life and self-worth by how high an income they earn.

In school reunion gatherings, we may be eager to find out about each other’s career and income earned. So, a pastor or a seminary teacher will not be able to earn a high income no matter how qualified he is. Does it mean that he or she is worthless?

Given such pragmatic ideology and peer pressure, people are compelled to work hard, be occupied and wrestle to climb high. They believe they would become more valuable with more work done, and more useful if they were busier. Hence, they would not have time to quiet down themselves.

The whole society is fully occupied, and nobody even has time to ponder, “What indeed am I busying for?”

“Busyness” causes majority of people to belittle the need of quietness and still. In fact, many people feel useless and unsecured when being idle and isolated. They don’t feel easy being alone with God.

How do you feel living under MCO period, when most of the economic and social activities are shut down?

In short, the emphasis of pragmatism has some negative impact on our faith. Believers are tempted to believe that nothing could be achieved without hard work, and hence, they are busy doing things, and overlook the importance of quietness and trust before God.

Many believers have become “Martha” who are worried and upset about many things.” (Luke 10:41) They have forgotten about one thing that is needed for them, and that they have to be like Mary, who in quietness, waited and listened attentively at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

In the times of King Hezekiah, the Jews were terrified and worried over their own nation. They were threatened by many nations, and hence they sought help from the Assyrians. However, they were afraid to be controlled by the Assyrians, and thus, they sought helps from the Egyptians too. The Jews thought that Egypt could deliver them from the bondage of Assyria. They forgot to put their trust in God for their rescue.

Therefore, Isaiah 30:1-18 is an instruction from God to the Jews to return to Him and not to put their trust in Egypt. In the same way, God is calling us today not to be over worried by the ups and downs of the world. We must not trust in our own efforts to find relief, but to return to Him and trust Him only.

In repentance and rest is your salvation; In quietness and trust is your strength

Judah, instead of seeking God first, sought the aid of Egypt (Isa 30:1-5). Therefore, God rebuked them through the prophet Isaiah and said, “Woe to the obstinate children, to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’ protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.” (vv.1-2)

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (v. 15)

In other words, what God meant is, “You believe that the Egyptians can rescue you, but what you believe is in vain. There is a God who is in control of everything, and He shall come and judge you, for it is in repentance and rest that you can be saved.”

We are reminded here that to be saved and delivered is only through returning to God and resting in Him. Return means to go back to God, with a true repentance, and turn away from the path where we make our own choices. Rest means to cease from trusting ourselves and go on doing things in our own way which may be even displeasing to God.

The Jews were busy in sending envoys with carriers of gifts to please the hearts of the Egyptians. They were very active and busy trying to save themselves. Unfortunately, this could not save them. In fact, salvation lies on rest, and it means that we must cease from human activities and rely on God’s grace for rest.

Rest in God is not solely passive and idling, but it includes overcoming sins and behaving the way of a genuine child of God. Judah needed this kind of power, the real power to resist their enemies. Yet this must be acquired through quietness, putting aside their busyness and concerns, as well as those desires that they had been hotly pursuing, and instead, trust God in their hearts.

It means that they must have an ability of self-denial, and to return to God wholeheartedly (Ps 46:10; 29:10-11;28:7).　

When we encounter attacks from others or economic down turn or sicknesses, the message of Isaiah found in this scripture reminds us to be still, to be patient, return to God and him in order to persevere through this difficult time. We shall see our salvation and strength in this manner of resting in God.

For some people, it also means that we do not pick a fight with others, for God says, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” (Romans 12:19) We should pray to God by faith and wait on God to execute His justice and shower on us His mercy.  This prayer will change the whole situation and God shall become our rescue.

Never be fearful and lose our hope when we face the uncertainty or gloomy outlook of our future. We should instead take heed of the instructions of Isaiah, “in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” It was in repentance and returning to God and resting in Him that the Israelites could be saved.

For those who long to receive power and strength, we must put aside our own ideas and return to God fully, and to receive His strength as we wait upon Him and trust in Him.

However, as what is found in the above-mentioned text, it is not human nature or our inclination to wait and trust, and neither were the Israelites. They sought helps everywhere! Because of this, God spoke to them through the prophet, “but you would have none of it.” (Isa 30:15)

This is the reality of human tragedy, because all of us have neglected the source of true power, and we hope to find it somewhere else!

When the Israelites rejected the true means of their deliverance, and sought their own ways out, they turned to the Egyptians for helps, and hence acquired from them a big number of horses. They thought that by having these horses and chariots, they could be free from the pursuit of their enemies.

In the ancient time, having horses and chariots means the person had something or someone to back him up and it was a sign of arrogance and haughtiness (Ps 20:7).

The Israelites rode on their horses, but their enemies rode on their horses as well. Hence, they had no way to run away from their enemies.

The Israelites also hoped to defeat the enemies with large army. So, they thought by recruiting soldiers from Egypt, they could overcome the Assyrians chariots. However, it was a terrible mistake.

God says in verse 17, “thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away…” One man’s threat caused one thousand Jews to flee, and with five enemies, all the Jews would flee away!

This was God’s punishment. God set His heart to punish His rebellious children, and hence, nobody could escape from it.

The truth is that the punishment mentioned in verse 17 is a reverse to the promises that God had given to the Israelites before. We see that in period when Israelites were brought out of Egypt during Moses time, God promised that He would be with them and bless them, so that they could chase out their enemies (Lev 26:8; Deut 32:30).

The rebellious children would have to stand alone. God says, “till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” (Isa 30:17b) This is pathetic situation of Israelites who had placed their trust on the Egyptians.

“Egypt” is sometimes used in the Bible to represent the secular world. God’s children today must not put their trust in this world and seek helps from it. Instead, we should trust only God and seek His aid.

No doubt, God is the Lord of judgment, but He is also a God that is full of mercy. Verse 18 points out the lovingkindness of God, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”

Our God is full of mercy and righteousness. In fact, God’s mercy is built upon His righteousness. God is ready to reveal His favor and mercy, but are we willing to wait upon Him? Those who wait upon God are the blessed, for they shall receive deliverance and strength in Him.

Later, the Israelites took heed of the prophet’s message, and they returned to God under the leading of Hezekiah and found their rescue and strength in Him.

According to the records found in Isaiah 37:36 and 2 Kings 19:34-37, God sent His angels to the Assyrian camps and killed about 185,000 men. He destroyed the entire Assyrian army just in a second! The Israelites won the battle without a real fight!

Conclusion

Only God is the source of our strength. Today, let’s return to God, rest in Him, and trust Him to lead us through this stormy life journey, until the day we meet Him face to face.

Let’s make adjustments to our life now, retune ourselves by spending quiet time with God, let us be occupied with God’s words not with Egypt concerns, walk in his way and not our own ways.

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!