Isaiah 30:15-22 - Quietness and Trust

Yesterday we read about the futility of Judah's attempt to save herself. Now we learn what she should do. Repentance and rest, quietness and trust. We need to admit the error of our ways and turn to God. We need to still our hearts, and put our trust in Him. Human striving achieves nothing. But Israel would have none of it, instead she would continue to rely on her own efforts, and so would have to work and strive all the harder, and all for nothing.

The tragedy is that the Lord longed to be gracious to her. If only she would have responded to His word things would have been so different. We need to apply this to ourselves as well. When we sense anxiety and frantic action in ourselves it is almost certain that we are going down the wrong path. We need to turn to the Lord. Rest and quietness are the most unnatural things to do in a time of crisis, but we need to still our hearts before the Lord. Then we can learn from Him, and put into action the things that He tells us to do.


This is a lesson I had to learn myself many years ago. It was nearly the end of my time at Oxford, I did not know what I was going to do next and jobs were scarce. A Christian friend gave me these verses on quietness and trust. Over time I learnt to put them into practice, and things worked out in a way I could never have imagined, and which affected the rest of my life for good.

And there will come a time when men will trust the Lord. We will receive rapid answers to prayer, tears will be wiped away. We will know the Spirit's leading in our lives. Note that it is not a matter of never getting anything wrong, but of hearing and responding to the Spirit when He corrects us.

In that time we will get rid of all idols, of all false sources of security.