Isaiah 30: 18-22 NLT
18 So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
20 Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21 Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
22 Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”
The people of Judah had rejected the Lord, preferring to organise national protection through a defensive pact with Egypt. The process cost them much national treasure, which then had to be transported across the Negev desert on donkeys and camels, braving the perils that lived there. Isaiah warned them that the alliance with Egypt would be unprofitable and that the Egyptian army wouldn’t raise a finger to help the unfortunate Judeans. He even called them “Rahab the Do-Nothing“, making up a derisive name to describe their uselessness. But the Judeans had gone further than that, saying to the prophets and seers that they didn’t want to hear anything more about their visions and prophetic messages from the Lord. Incredibly, they wanted to be told lies and illusions, finally ordering them to “stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel”. Isaiah warned them that when the attack came the Judean army would be put to flight, the Egyptians would be missing, and the people in Judah would be left “like a lonely flagpole on a hill, or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop”. Isaiah’s message to them was one that they had rejected. He wrote down what the Lord had told him to say, a message to the Judeans, “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it”” (Isaiah 30:15). A poignant verse where the people threw back in God’s face the remedy to their impending distress.
But God said He would wait for them to return to Him. He always had done and still does today. The Judeans would have been aware of Deuteronomy 31:8, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you“. God was with them as they crossed into the promised land, and He would still be with them in the crisis they were facing, the coming invasion by the Assyrian army. Back in Isaiah 30:18, we read, “So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help“. The trouble was that the Judeans were an impatient lot, and they wanted to see boots on the ground rather than a rather vague promise from the Lord that He would be there for them. They followed in the steps of Abraham who, although the Lord had promised him that he would have many descendants (“Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”” Genesis 15:5), he instead trying to hurry God along by doing something. We read his human solution to the problem of old age and childlessness: “So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal” (Genesis 16:2). Reading on to the end of the chapter, we find that “Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born”. But God had given Abraham a promise, and the fruition of that came when Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90. God said to Abraham, ” … Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:19). And the outcome we read in Genesis 21:1-3, “The LORD kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac”.
But Abraham and the Judeans were no different to us pilgrims really. In recent years church growth, mainly in the US, has been achieved using the wrong methods. Some big churches have relied on corporate business models and marketing strategies instead of prayer and biblical discipleship to grow the church. Of course, while using modern tools is not inherently wrong, theologians, pastors, and Christian authors frequently warn against trying to build “God’s kingdom” using worldly metrics and human effort, effectively working in human strength rather than relying on the Holy Spirit. And we have seen the results where such churches experience severe leadership burnout, moral failures in celebrity pastors, and a “shallow” faith among congregants who leave when the excitement fades. Far better to follow the path nearer to my home, where the Hebridean revival in 1949 commenced with two senior citizens, Peggy and Christine Smith, who lived in Barvas, a village located on the north-west coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Peggy (84 and blind) and Christine (82 and crippled with arthritis) grew deeply burdened because no young people were attending public worship, so beginning in November 1949, they prayed twice a week in their humble cottage from 10:00 p.m. until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., pleading a biblical promise to pour water on the thirsty land. What happened? Well, Duncan Campbell, a prominent evangelist of that time, was invited to lead meetings in Barvas. When he arrived, he found that the spiritual awakening was already underway through the groundwork of local prayer. The movement quickly spread across the Isle of Lewis and neighbouring islands, characterised by massive spontaneous gatherings, deep repentance, and community transformation. It is hard work trying to do God’s work in our human strength alone. But when God moves, nothing will stop Him, and the effects of the Hebridean revival are still with us today.
When in trouble, we must turn to the Lord “so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help”. What are we pilgrims facing into today? Illness? Poverty? Pain? All of the above? But turning to the Lord, we find that, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
Dear Heavenly Father. You must shake Your head in disbelief sometimes, when You see Your children gyrate through hoops rather than trust You “in quietness and confidence”, when troubles come our way. Please forgive us for our lack of faith, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
