For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not… (Isaiah 30:15)

The theme of Isaiah 30 is one of a rebellious people and a faithful God. Hear what the Lord says of His children:

…this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” (9-11)

The result of their refusal to hear from God would be calamitous collapse.

Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.” (12-14)

And yet, in today’s “Hearing God” verse, He gives the remedy that would avert the calamity.

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

Walking away from God is always toilsome and tiring. Judah, under threat from Assyria, sought protection in an alliance with Egypt though God had already promised to defend His people. Worried and fretful over their earthly circumstance, they sought comfort in an earthly partnership and turned a deaf ear to God.

Sound familiar? As troubling circumstances close in around us and anxiety builds within us, do we get still and listen for God, trusting His Word and His Will? Or do we begin “grasping at straws,” looking for an easy earthly solution to our problems. Straw grasping is wearying to the soul, taxing on the mind and beleaguering to the body.

The answer? Get still and be quiet. Be confident in God, trusting all that you are to all that He is. Hear Him. Believe Him. Obey Him.

“But you would not…”

These haunting words describe the unwillingness of God’s children to repent of their rebellious ways and let go of their earthly struggles. They would rather drive themselves into the ground than listen to the voice of God.

What will you do?