God Longs to be Gracious
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." 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! O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you."
Is 30:15, 18-19
In these times of difficulties, we have the tendency to take control of the situation. This includes thinking of possible options or solutions to our situation. Yet the word of God clearly says, "In repentance and rest is your salvation." Our salvation - the solution to our problems is not in our getting busy nor trying all options. It is in turning back to God and humbly resting before him to discern his will.
And to get us out of our situation, we rely not on our own strength. That will only make us chase the wind. But our strength lies in quietness and trust in the Lord. We lie quiet and let the Lord work through the events. And as we lie quiet, we wait in trust for him. For our God is a God of justice and compassion and our only way out is to wait.
The last verse is an assurance that through all difficulties, God longs to be gracious to us. God always hears us and our cries for help never land on deaf ears. God answers as soon as he hears us.
May the Lord give us his grace so that we can always turn and rely on the Lord in all situations - for the Lord is our Saviour. He wants to help us and he is the only one who can help us.
Blessed are we if we wait for the Lord.
Blessed too is our God who is always gracious to us