I enjoyed thinking about Isaiah 30 this morning. Consider these highlights of God speaking to His people:
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.”
But think about the opposite kind of life from the beautiful one described above: a life of stubborn pride and exhaustion, a life of frenzy, complaint, and worry. Here, God invites us into a different way of living. And why wouldn’t we live just as He asks us to? This is a God who describes Himself like this:
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! 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. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
He longs to show us His gracious love and compassion. He blesses us as we wait for Him. He hears and immediately answers. He furthermore directs us.
I often hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit when something is “not the way for me.” You might be reading this and wondering if you’re taking a path that, while seemingly good and prosperous, isn’t the way for you. Listen for that voice that redirects you. God will teach us and lead us.