The Strength Of Stillness

Isaiah 30:15–18 and the Call to Wait on the Lord

Amen. Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 30. We're gonna continue in Isaiah 30 this morning, looking at verses 15 through 18. You'll notice that the ESV chooses to make the section break before verse 18.

Verse 18 is very much a transitional verse that could either go with the previous one or with the next set of verses. I think it makes more sense for us to consider it this morning along with the previous two verses.

When you have Isaiah 30, please stand for the reading of God's word. For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

But you were unwilling, and you said, no, we will flee upon horses. Therefore, you shall flee away, and we will ride upon swift steeds. Therefore, your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore, he exalts himself to show mercy to you, for the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your kind and tender mercies to us.

We acknowledge ourselves as sinful people in desperate need of salvation, but God, we thank you for the great forgiveness that you have provided in Jesus Christ, and we thank you for your grace, for your mercy, that you are indeed a God of justice.

I pray that we would be a people who wait for you, that you would make us a people who wait for you, that we would ultimately be blessed as we wait for you. In Jesus' name, amen. Once again, Isaiah 30 is addressing the nation of Israel, specifically the tribe of Judah, as they have trusted in the nation of Egypt, rather than trusting in the Lord and their fight against Assyria.

And God tells them that they need to cease with their striving. They need to cease going to other sources of trust and instead rely on him alone. And what does God require? What does God require of us for salvation?

In a sense, the answer is very, very simple. Jesus, when asked this question, what is the work of God? What do we have to do? The answer is, in a sense, nothing. Well, as he said, the work of God is to believe in him in whom he sent.

There's nothing to do, rather, in trusting we wait for God. We rely on the Lord to conquer our enemies, rather than us defeating sin, defeating death. These are not things that we can do on our own. Rather, they are something that God accomplishes through his son, Jesus Christ.

And as we look at this passage and we see his call to that people of Judah, telling them to wait upon him, we should do the same, that we should wait upon the Lord, rather than going to our own sources of trust, relying on things that are not the Lord, thinking that they will turn out better for us.

They never do, they never will, because only the Lord is trustworthy. In verse 15, he says, "'For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.'". Now, it's worth considering the context of this passage, that as he's addressed this nation that has gone to Egypt for help, he now prescribes more specificity in what the punishment to them will be, and more specificity in what the sin against him is.

The sin was not just trusting in Egypt, but specifically going and trusting Egypt for horses and for chariots, and for thinking that they could flee away from their enemy on these horses and chariots.

And the more specific punishment that is given is therefore, indeed, they will flee from these enemies, not in a way where they evade them, but in a way where they are desperately trying to escape. And once again, he refers to the Lord as the Holy One of Israel, the Holy One of Israel.

If you remember from last week, we looked at the significance of him being called the Holy One of Israel. It means that God will not be mocked. He is not one who we can reject his offers of help and think that it will go fine with us.

If we reject such things, if we rely on other things rather than him, if we think that other things are stronger, other things are better, there will be repercussions for this because he is not mocked in this way.

However, there's an additional contextual significance to this name of him being the Holy One of Israel, because as we saw in verse 11, the people say, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.

They do not wish to hear from the Lord. And so Isaiah responded in verse 12 with, therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel. And then he speaks historically saying, for thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.

And what did he say to this people? In returning and rest shall you be saved, in quietness and trust shall be your strength. This is the people's strength, not fighting, not fleeing, but in quietness, in trust, in returning and in rest.

What are these things? Well, returning, first of all, is repentant. It's turning back to the Lord rather than from these false assurances, from this sin headed towards this nation of Egypt. What is rest?

Rest is a quiet confidence upon the Lord where one does not, out of their own effort and exertion, try to solve their problems, but rather apart from anxiety, trust in the Lord to do so. Now, there are all kinds of ways that this gets abused, where people say, let go and let God, and there's no action that takes place.

The idea is not that the Christian life involves doing nothing and sitting around and waiting for God to solve our problems. Rather, what it is is an understanding that because the Lord cares for us, if we seek first the kingdom of God, all these things will be added to us.

All the problems that we face, we don't have to worry about solving those if we are following the Lord, because as we follow the Lord, we can rest assured that he will take care of the problem. So we are called to trust in the Lord and to be ones who, having no anxiety, thinking that solving our problems falls upon us, but rather recognizing that the Lord has promised to be our salvation, trusting in him alone, being free from that anxiety, following him, we find that rest.

Continues on, speaking of quietness and trust. There's some translations, instead of trust, refer to confidence. These things are a contentedness in the Lord. Quietness comes from being content that God will do what he will do and that his doings are good.

If we are not quiet, if we are anxious and are, what loud would be in this context, the opposite of quietness, would be striving, would be fretting, would be making some great commotion about our current state, but rather the one who is quiet, the one who recognizes that God is good and that God cares for them, he has, as I said, no anxiety.

His quietness and trust is in the Lord. And there, strength is found, strength. Now, this is fairly paradoxical. This is not what you would expect. Where does strength come from? Typically, strength comes from exertion.

It comes from showing your muscle. It comes from taking the best of what you have and finding the best of what you can get. If you don't have horses, you go and you get those horses. But the Lord tells us that our strength is in quietness and in trust.

We've been going in the home groups through 2 Corinthians. This upcoming week, we'll be looking at 2 Corinthians 2 .10, in which Paul says that when I am weak, then I am strong. Now, some people quote that in some kind of nonsensical, self-contradictory way to say, even in your bad days, you're great.

That is not what is being said. It's rather that God uses human weakness to demonstrate his strength. And so it is only when we acknowledge our weakness and acknowledge our own lack of strength and our need for the Lord that God is pleased to work through us and in us.

And it is in those times when he is exalted that we find strength, because our strength is not in ourself. He is the source of all strength. It is only when we are vessels for his strength that his strength comes through.

Now, this is something that, and several times we have seen, very appropriately, Isaiah allude to the Exodus, right? The people are going back to Egypt. They're doing, historically, what they know not to do.

The people had left Egypt, they had fleed from Egypt, and on that way to the Promised Land, they kept saying, let's just go back to Egypt. Let's just go back to Egypt. And here, many years later, they're doing the same thing of going back to Egypt.

And so Isaiah keeps using that as an illustration of how foolish the sin of theirs is. When he speaks of quietness and strength, I believe he's making an allusion to Exodus 14. Let me read to you this paragraph from Exodus 14 that begins in verse 10.

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

Only to be silent. What is he instructing them there? He's instructing quietness. What is Isaiah saying would be their strength? Quietness. The Lord has said, if you be silent, I will fight for you. Isaiah is saying, if you are quiet, the Lord will fight for you.

But what are the people doing? People are not quiet. People are going back to Egypt, not trusting the Lord to fight for them. You know, it's very, the fight or flight mechanic that exists within us, it's very natural, at the same time, is very foolish in light of the Christian faith, right?

Now, if you're in an actual situation where a bear is approaching you, yes, you should have some sort of fight or flight response. But as far as spiritual matters go, as far as dealing with your issues and the nature of sin and your search for security and eternity, none of that can be found in fleeing from the things that you feel that you need to flee from.

None of it can be found from fighting against those forces that God has said only he himself can defeat. We cannot defeat death. Only God can defeat death. We cannot find some kind of peace in this world apart from him.

Only he can produce in us such peace. And yet so many people try to find peace through something other than God's son, Jesus Christ. So many people try to find peace through meditative practices, through some kind of lifestyle, through relationships.

It doesn't matter what it is. They try to find the things that only God can produce. They try to find them in themselves or in things outside of them that are not the Lord. But this can only be had in God.

And so we need to be silent when he fights for us. We need to be quiet and trust. And that will be our strength. You know, there's a reason quiet time is called quiet time. You ever heard, you know, morning devotions called that quiet time?

This is what's needed. It's quiet time. It's a point where we do not strive, but trust in the Lord and rest in him. Why is it that people don't have quiet time? Why is it that you don't spend private time worshiping the Lord?

It's because they think that their problems that they have that day need to get done by striving, right? What is, how is prayer, how's reading the Bible going to make sure that I get all my chores done, that I get all my work done, that I send out the emails that I need to send, et cetera?

How is praying and reading the Bible going to help me accomplish that? I need to do these on my own effort. The Lord is not going to help me in that. That's what people think as they disregard their quiet time.

But you know what you need? You need quietness and stillness. And stillness is strength because it is there that the Lord works. You have to trust that the Lord will accomplish everything that you need.

You have to trust that as you seek first the kingdom of God, all these other things will be added to you. I'm not talking about neglecting your duties. I'm talking about keeping the Lord's priorities, your priorities, and trusting that everything else will be taken care of because he knows what priorities you should have.

The Folly of Trusting Horses and Chariots

But you were unwilling, he continues on, speaking of this nation of Judah. But you were unwilling. And you said, no, we will flee upon horses. Therefore, you shall flee away. And we will ride upon swift steeds.

Therefore, your pursuers shall be swift. Deuteronomy 17, 16 forbid the king of Judah from collecting many horses and many troops. Because it would cause him to rely on something else rather than the Lord.

The Lord wished for the nation of Judah to have minimal military forces so that if they won a battle, they would not be able to credit themselves, but they would understand that it's the Lord's doing.

And here they're going precisely against what is written in their own law, accumulating horses, accumulating chariots, because they do not trust in the strength of the Lord. Psalm 27 says, some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord.

Now, is that your trust today? Do you trust in the Lord? Do you trust in horses and chariots? You know, that example I just gave about quiet time is a good benchmark, right? Are the Lord's priorities your priorities, or do you think you need to shift his priorities to be a bit lower so that you can make sure that whatever you want to get done gets done?

Keep his priorities top. That is what stillness looks like. That is where the strength comes from, is from resting and trusting that the Lord will have your back on everything if you are seeking first that kingdom of God.

And look at the result. No, we flee upon horses, therefore you shall flee away. Right, the people say, horses are going to save us. Okay, you want to flee away on horses, you will flee. In other words, you will be chased by enemies.

We will ride upon swift steeds, therefore your pursuers will be swift. God is not mocked. The people want one thing, he gives them exactly what he wants in such a poetic justice manner that it shows how foolish they were to have this thing.

You know, if God has said, if God has told this people that they will only have success in battle if they trust in him, how foolish is it to think that they could have success any other way? It's easy to imagine that by working harder, you can accomplish something.

It's simply not the case if the Lord has said that he will not be glorified in such a thing. You know, it's easy to look at this with eyes of faith for Judah to say, well, if we just had enough horses, if we have two times or three times or 10 times, obviously we would be able to defeat these enemy troops.

But if the Lord has said otherwise, that's simply not the case. And the same is true in your own life. If the Lord has said that sin never pays, that the wages of sin is death, you cannot trust that your sin, your abandonment of the Lord for other things will ever work out in your favor.

It's just never the case. It might look like it is for a short while, but it's never the case long-term. You know, it's a lot like, so you have the situation where they are amassing troops and basically God is assuring them, it doesn't matter how much you amass, I will make sure the other side has more strength than you if you take this route.

If you've ever played the video game Mario Kart, you know, it's a popular party game that people play. What drives me nuts about that game is if you do really well, this is how most racing games work.

If you do really well, they make it so that the, so the other go-kart drivers catch up to you to make it a challenge for you. Doesn't matter how fast you go, the other guy's always at least right behind you.

Okay, so you can say, oh, well, if I go twice as fast, then I'll get a real huge lead. It's not the case. That's never how this game works. They always make it so the other guy is right behind you. Okay, this is exactly what it looks like to try to strive on your own against whatever enemies you have in front of you.

If you think that your way is going to work out, but the Lord has guaranteed that it won't, he will make it so that it is never the case that you are able to win in the end. If he is the one sovereign, he will not be mocked.

He will not be mocked. You know, and you should consider this also with secret sins, right? A lot of people have sins that they've kept to themselves, they kept secret, and they think, well, you know, if I just, if I just keep this secret, I can get around, you know, having to deal with this sin.

But that's not the case. You know, these things always come to light. James 5, 16 says, therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous has great power as it is working.

We should not think that we can somehow evade God's sense of justice by hiding our sins. This is never the case. He will always catch up to us. The enemies will always catch up to us. There's no way you can flee.

There's no way you can run fast enough. God will make sure that whatever's behind you will go faster if this is the route that you take. But if you run to his arms, if you return, if you find rest, there will be strength.

Reversed Blessings, Judgment, and the Need for Discernment

Continues on, a thousand shall flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you shall flee till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. Now, if you are familiar with the first five books of the Bible, you'll know this is a theme that comes up a few times.

This notion of many fleeing from one or similar ratios fleeing from each other. Let me read one of these passages for you. Leviticus 26 .8 says the following. It speaks of the blessing that will be on Judah as they follow the Lord.

Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase 10 ,000, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. So this is the blessing as the people seek God, is that five shall chase a hundred, and a hundred shall chase 10 ,000.

So what is happening here? It's the exact opposite. Instead, it says a thousand shall flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five, you shall flee. So it's even this greater ratio. Imagine a thousand people of Judah running from one person, and then at five, the whole nation runs away.

This blessing has been reversed, so now it is a curse. If the people had followed the Lord, they would have had this blessing for them, but now the exact opposite has happened. They are cursed because they have gone against the Lord.

And the Deuteronomy 32 .30 says something similar. It says, how could one have chased a thousand, and two have put 10 ,000 to flight, unless the Lord had sold them up, and the Lord, unless the rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up?

How is it possible that you could have so many troops, and still the enemy attack you successfully? Well, the answer is because God has given you up. And this is the case for striving on your own strength, for not trusting in the Lord.

How is it that no matter how much effort you put into it, it will fail? It is because the Lord will give you up in such a case. And this passage right here has been alluded to before in Isaiah. Back in chapter 27, he had talked about this being a people without discernment, alluding to verses 28 and 29 that are just before this one.

And so this passage, Isaiah has come back to occasionally to talk about the foolishness of the people. So he says, at a thousand, excuse me, a thousand shall flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five, you shall flee till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

You know, all the, like a signal on the hill, basically calling all the enemies to the people. If you imagine, maybe you would be hidden away somewhere, but no, it'll be like the people are on top of a mountain, blaring a siren, sending smoke signals, bringing all the enemies to them.

You should learn to recognize when it is the case that you are under such a curse. You know, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Don't hear me as saying that such a curse applies in the fullest sense to any who have Jesus Christ as their Savior.

At the same time, oftentimes you will experience difficulty in the Christian life, and some of that will be trials that God sends your way for your good. Some of that will be your own doing because you are striving on your own strength, and you are not engaging in the quietness and trust that is being described here.

You need to be able to engage in some real introspection, look at your situation, and honestly discern what the source of it is, what God is doing with this trial in your life. Is it because you are one like Job who is upright, and God is testing you and trying you to make you stronger?

Or is it perhaps because you have fled from the Lord and he is bringing you back? You need to be able to look and see where your problems are coming from. Are they conjoined with anxiety? If they are joined together with anxiety, what does that show?

That shows that you are striving on your own strength, that you are not trusting in the Lord. And you can look, and you can look at your struggle, and you can see where your heart is if you are honest with yourself.

You can say, I am not trusting the Lord. I need to bring this to the Lord in prayer. I need to trust in God. My problems are not, it's not really this thing in front of me. It's not that I haven't put enough strength into it.

It's rather that I have not trusted the Lord, and that is why I'm not at peace. Now, I'm not saying that if you pray that the Lord's gonna take all your problems away. I'm not saying that if you trust in the Lord, you will have every obstacle gone, but the peace that people lack in order to handle such situations gracefully, that can only be had through seeking peace in Jesus Christ.

And speaking of peace in Jesus Christ, this phrase, like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill, recalls things that have been said earlier in Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 11, spoke of a signal on a mountain several times, and what was that signal there?

That signal was Jesus Christ. It was the root of Jesse that was spoken of. So here, the people have become like a flagstaff on top of a mountain, bringing all the enemies to themselves. There, Jesus Christ was like a signal on the mountain, bringing his people to himself.

Many times over in this book of Isaiah, the people of Israel are compared to this Messiah who's coming, who will accomplish their role for them in the way that they could not. You see the phrase, the servant of the Lord, used many times in Isaiah.

The people are supposed to be the servant of the Lord, and yet they fail to be the servant they ought to be. And then you see the Messiah figure. He is the true servant of the Lord, the suffering servant that suffers on behalf of his people.

And how was Jesus raised up as a signal? He was raised up on the cross. It was there that he was crucified. And so we who strive on our own strength, who resist the Lord, who deserve to have enemies gather around us, who has dealt with that?

Who has been a signal gathering the enemies in our place? Jesus Christ was the signal that was raised up, gathering his people, but not only gathering his people, suffering the very wrath of God so that his people could be gathered to him.

The Lord Waits to Be Gracious and Exalts Himself to Show Mercy

Verse 18 continues. Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. Now this is why I want to include this verse with the previous two. Consider the full circle that's presented here.

What does God call for them to do? Return, rest, quiet, trust? What is he called? He is called for the people to wait, to wait upon the Lord. And the people have not waited upon the Lord, so then what does the Lord do?

The Lord, in response, he waits. Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you. The Lord withholds his graciousness while the people do not seek him. He withholds the graciousness from them. Now this is very fascinating for two reasons.

One is that, well, that graciousness is being withheld, so God is refusing to be gracious while the people resist him. At the same time, there's a promise held out that he is waiting and that he will give that graciousness.

There is a promise held out that his grace is coming. And so this is not a indefinite withholding of his graciousness. Rather, it is a strategic promotion of his graciousness as he will give it at the proper time when he will be correctly exalted.

Romans 3 .23 speaks of how God is both the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. You know, it is through the cross that both he justifies man, right? Men who otherwise he would have to punish.

And yet, at the same time, he is just. There is not any injustice that happens because Jesus Christ is crucified in their place. Now, if he were not one who waits to be gracious, you know, he would just be, if he immediately gave his graciousness, he would be the justifier, but he would not be the just.

Now, if he did not give graciousness at all, he would be the just, but he would not be the justifier. But he is one who waits to be gracious in order that he might be both the just and the justifier to the one who has faith in Jesus Christ.

It says, therefore, he exalts himself to show mercy to you. He exalts himself to show mercy. If he is not held up high, then his mercy will not be given to the people. Now, one might look at this, and many do, look at passages like this.

Many in the world who reject Christianity say, boy, God seems very egotistical. He really has to get all this glory. He really has to be held up high before he will give anything to the people. Now, that's one way of looking at it, but it is very incongruent with reality because God is not some egotist who wants himself to be raised high even though he is not high.

He truly is that high, and it is only in him being exalted that someone can truly appreciate mercy. You know, if you receive mercy after mercy after mercy, and you do not realize how desperate you are for it, you do not realize that it's needed, you do not realize that you are one who has sinned and is in need of great mercy, it's not appreciated.

You have no appreciation for God's mercy. There's no great joy found in it, but he exalts himself in showing mercy. So God is not like the egotist who holds himself up and puts others low for his own sake.

Rather, he is like the sun. The sun raises itself up in the sky, gives light to the world, and it is only by him doing that, it's only by the sun doing this that people can have light, people can have life.

See, God is like the sun. If he keeps himself low and does not exalt himself to show mercy to people, that'd be like the sun keeping itself low and trying to give light to people. It just cannot happen.

There is no way without God promoting himself, promoting, since he is truth, since he is light and life, there is no way for him to give these things to the people without promoting himself, just as the sun must be risen in the sky in order for people to have light and life, for creation to grow, so it is God must exalt himself in order for us to be truly blessed with his truth.

You can't, yeah, you can't say, well, why can't we just continue dwelling in lies and enjoy life? As we looked at last week, lies and self-deception and self-destruction go hand in hand. You can't enjoy a lack of destruction while enjoying lies.

The only way to have life is to have truth, and the only way to have truth is for the one who is truth himself to exalt himself because he is truth. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.

He is a God of justice. Now, that might be surprising because usually we think of God's justice as his judgment, that he is going to bring judgments against people, but here it speaks of his justice in contrast to severity, that his justice is his measured hand in dealing out graciousness at the appropriate time as he will do.

And so as 1 John 1, 9 says, that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, why is it that God is just to forgive us our sins? Does he owe us anything?

Well, it is the case that he has promised forgiveness to all who come to him because of Jesus Christ. He has made a covenant with his people. And so he is a God of justice who saves. You know, Jeremiah 10, 24 speaks of this, where Jeremiah says, correct me, O Lord, but in your justice.

You know, justice there is not a statement about judgment, it's about a statement about God's measured mercy, a correct level of gracious correction. Malachi 2, 17, the people offend God because they ask, where is the God of justice?

Because they do not think that the things that they are experiencing, the trials that they are experiencing are right or just, but they are, God is the God of justice. And so along with all this, along with God's strategic promotion of his own graciousness, why is it that you experience the trials that you experience?

Why is it you go through the things you go through? It is so the Lord might accomplish his purposes in your life. If you are one who has found Jesus Christ, it is so that he can accomplish his purposes in your life and redirect you to finding that true comfort that can only be had in Jesus Christ and rather than in yourself.

Blessed are all those who wait for him. Blessed are all those who wait for him. You know, God is a God of justice. He has promised that all those who come to him and Jesus Christ find peace, they find rest.

He is a God of justice. You know, if Jesus Christ has been offered up, how much more will he not give us all things? This is a wonderful truth. And you know, it also shows the folly of the idea that Jesus Christ died in the same way for every single soul, right?

Jesus Christ died specifically for his people. He has paid that penalty. And it is because he has paid that penalty specifically for the specific people that we have this assurance that he is waiting and will indeed be gracious, that he will indeed be merciful, that his justice will be handed out in the correct, measured way.

It's because God makes good on all his promises and because God makes good on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, him having paid for sin, that certainly will be accounted for. Blessed are all those who wait for him because those who wait for him, those who are found in Jesus Christ, have everything because Christ has earned everything for them.

He has earned all blessings. He has earned all riches. He has earned the great inheritance of the universe that he will share with his people. All those blessings are found for those who wait in him. But if you strive against the Lord, none of those are to be found.

Instead, the great curse of this passage is to be found instead. You must find rest and comfort in Jesus Christ and in him alone. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this great promise that blessed are all those who wait for you.

We thank you that these promises are found in Jesus Christ and that you wait to be gracious, that you give your grace and your mercy in measured portions at appropriate times. And we come to you humbling ourselves, not exalting ourselves, but recognizing that you are the one above all, that you will not be mocked and that there is no strength apart from you.

And so we come to you for that strength, acknowledging our own weakness, acknowledging our emptiness as vessels and asking that we would be filled with your strength. In Jesus' name.