Isaiah 30:18 “And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.”
Don’t you hate to wait for people? We never enjoy waiting for the doctor, the dentist, or sometimes our wives (or husbands). On the other hand, we do expect people to wait for us! None of us enjoy being left behind for something. Here in Isaiah 30:18, we see the two sides of waiting: the first “wait” refers to God’s waiting for us, and the second “wait” refers to our waiting for God.
The nation of Israel had been looking to Egypt, of all places, to protect them from Assyria. They were not waiting on deliverance from the LORD but were trusting in help from the nation that had once bound them in slavery! In their minds, they were secure in Egypt, even though they were slaves. But now they had to actually depend on God for their safety-requiring waiting and living by faith.
Israel was choosing to trust in something they could see but would eventually fail them. God told the people of Israel how futile it was to trust in Egypt to protect them! That is the context of verse 18.
Let’s look at the first “wait”: “And therefore will the LORD wait. . . .” God was waiting for Israel to see how foolish they were to trust in Egypt. If we examine ourselves, how many times do we stop trusting in God for deliverance and return to trusting in earthly things? God may let us come to the end of ourselves before we finally see our need of Him.
I do the same thing with my own children. When my children go through the “I-don’t-need-any-help” stage, I will sometimes let them try whatever it is by themselves rather than fussing with them. Very quickly, they realize they cannot do it alone-they need Daddy’s help. When we, as God’s children, get to the “I-don’t-need-any-help-from-God” stage, He waits and lets us come to the end of ourselves. It’s a hard way to learn, but we realize that we desperately need God.
God is certainly under no obligation to patiently wait for us to return to Him. So why does He wait? Verse 18 answers this: “And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you . . . that he may have mercy upon you.” God wants to give us what we do not deserve!
The end of verse 18 says, “Blessed are all they that wait for him.” All along, Israel needed to wait for God, and the Lord urged them to do this. (verses 15-16) Waiting is neither fun nor easy. It is one thing to trust God when you see exactly how He will work; it is another thing to wait for God when you don’t see how He will deliver you. Remember that God is waiting for us to wait upon Him.
Prayer Requests:
– Revival services tonight in Terre Haute, IN; Taylors, SC; Williamsport, PA; and Centralia, IL