²⁷ Behold, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with His anger, and in thick, rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

²⁸ And His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that causes them to err will be in the jaws of the people.

²⁹ You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart as when one marches in procession with a flute to go to the temple on the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. (Isaiah 30:27-29, AMPC)

In Parts One through Seven, we:

• examined the context and main points of Isaiah 30,
• discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the one true God,
• saw God explain to Israel how their rebellion against His ways would cause calamity,
• examined verse 18, which described how God earnestly, eagerly waits and longs for us to return to Him and that, while He waits, He is getting ready to show us mercy and loving-kindness when we return to Him, and
• explored some of the unbelievable things God is earnestly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

In Part Eight, we will consider the unimaginable power of God and how He fights for us.

Isaiah 30:27-33 is the last part of Isaiah’s discourse in this chapter. In these verses, Isaiah reassures Israel that the destruction of Assyria is coming soon. These verses are part of the main message of the entire chapter. These verses show that “the Jews and Israelites had no need to flee to Egypt for help against the Assyrians, to the neglect of their duty toward God, since God was perfectly sufficient to defend them, and had determined to destroy the Assyrians.” — Vitringa. (www.biblehub/commentaries.com)

²⁷ Behold, the Name of the Lord comes from afar burning with His anger, and in thick, rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. This section of verses (Isaiah 30:27-33) begins with the word “Behold” which means pay attention to what is about to be said.

God Himself. And what does the next phrase, “The name of the Lord”, mean?  A footnote in the AMPC says “the revelation of the power and glory of God.” Bible Hub says it means the Lord Himself. That is the interpretation that speaks most powerfully to me. This is a topic I want to study further but, for now, it emphasizes for me the fact that God is personally, one on one, intimately involved with people. The words “God Himself” are used by Abraham in Genesis 22:8 when “Abraham said, My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering” and in Genesis 48:15 by Jacob when he “blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God [Himself], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day. . . ”

God used these words, I believe for emphasis, when He spoke through Isaiah in Isaiah 45:18 and said ‘For thus says the Lord—Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited-I am the Lord, and there is no one else.”

To study other instances where “God Himself” is used, search BibleGateway or another online Bible website, with parenthesis around “God Himself.” Some of these instances where the phrase “God Himself” is used refer to the holy covenant God Himself made with His people (Luke 1:72), creation (John 1:1), and the fact that God makes His eternal power and divinity clearly known to mankind through the things that are created so that people are without excuse (Romans 1:15-20). Furthermore, Ephesians 3:19, Colossians 3:12 and Hebrews 13:5 all clearly show how personally God is involved in developing and maintaining our closeness to Him, in other words how personally God is involved in our battles. We could say “Behold! God Himself comes from afar. . . ‘.

. . . comes from afar, burning with His anger, and in thick, rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. These verses remind me of Psalm 18, where from His temple (“from afar”), God heard David’s cry and responded. David sang the words of Psalm 18 to the Lord when God “had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul” (2 Samuel 22:1, NIV). David had done nothing to cause that desperate situation whereas in Isaiah 30, Israel had engaged in blatant idolatry. Notice, though, that in both instances God’s anger is described in the same way. God is burning with anger, smoke comes from Him, and consuming fire comes from His mouth. He is “full of indignation”, in other words, He is as mad as He can get. A simple definition of indignation is “anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy or mean” (Merriam -Webster).

God is furious when His children are hurt. Think how you feel when your loved one is treated cruelly. Multiply that by a million and you have a faint glimmer of understanding. In Psalm 18, earth trembles and mountains shake because God is angry at the enemy. Such is the power of this One who fights for us when we return to Him. Even when you disobey, even when you fail to regard God “as holy and honor His holy name [by regarding Him as your only hope of safety] (Isaiah 8:13a, AMPC), God is filled with wrath – because it is part of His nature. God hates sin and the destruction it brings whether His children are being attacked because of what we did or whether we are innocent of any guilt or iniquity.

^{.  .  .}  And His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that causes them to err will be in the jaws of the people. Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible Types (p. 81) states that in 2 Samuel 22:1 (which is the same as Psalm 18:15) “the wrath of God is compared to His breath. No special effort is required to breathe. Wrath is a natural attribute of God which is continually manifested against sin and sinners.” When we are angry, we breath more deeply and stronger. Obviously, in this verse God’s breath is strong and deep.

Look at how David describes how angry God is when God comes to fight for him. “The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the mountains laid bare, at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from Your nostrils.” (Psalm 18:15, NIV). Job 4:9 says that “those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of His anger they perish.” (NIV)

 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart as when one marches in procession with a flute to go to the temple on the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. While God is fighting for us, He wants us to have joy and peace. Think of how many times in the Bible we are told to rejoice, think how often God reassures us of His love toward us and how many times He describes His power and the certain defeat and ultimate doom of the enemy and all evil. Think of what He did when He sent His Son, when God Himself came to earth, and showed us it is possible to be fully human and live a fully holy, victorious life because of His Spirit living within us.

Some commentaries suggest that Isaiah 30:28 refers to the feast of unleavened bread, or Passover, because it was the only feast that began with a night celebration. Some also suggest that Passover was the most important of Jewish feasts. I believe that fits here because I believe God was wanting to give us a picture of how intensely joyful He wants to help us be while He fights for us once we return to trusting Him completely. As you likely know, the Passover feast commemorates Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.

Think how joyful the whole nation of Israel was when they celebrated Passover. People would have journeyed from the country districts to Jerusalem, often “headed by a piper or a band of pipers. (The Pulpit Commentary.) Imagine their joy as they anticipated several days of celebration. Imagine their delight at having a time of celebration and leisure while in the company of friends and neighbors as they traveled along together.

God Himself fights for us. Our loving Father’s intimate, detailed involvement in our lives is unmistakably demonstrated, for you and for me, throughout the Bible. However, the last half of Isaiah 30 focuses on these facts:

• God is intimately involved in our battles.
• God has prepared the way for us to have peace and joy in the midst of our battles, and
• God has already won all our battles.

[1] God is intimately involved in our battles   I believe that throughout each day, whenever my foot is about to step into a snare, God wants me to remember that He Himself is fighting for me in that moment, just as much as He fought for His children in the Bible. He wants me to consciously remember, and ponder, that the battle is His, the victory has already been won and He will keep me in His perfect peace to the degree that I keep my mind fixed on Him.

This applies whether it is one of the all too frequent pop-up battles of everyday living—the boss criticizes, a large bill arrives, traffic gets snarled—or a long-standing battle where you have to fight weeks, months or years, like an addiction, climbing out of debt, or believing for salvation of loved ones.

[2] God has prepared the way for us to have peace and joy in the midst of our battles. God wants us to stay in peace and joy, every hour of every battle, no matter how long it lasts. He wants us to have the same attitude, and spirit, that Jesus did as He lived His daily life. He wants us to “be of good cheer”, to “take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted” (John 16:33 AMPC).

[3] God has already won all our battles – that same powerful God is fighting for us. Because God never changes, has no favorites and occupies Himself with the details of the righteous person’s life, throughout each hour of every day of our life, the same God who fought for His children in the Bible is fighting for us, in the same way, with the same passionate love and power. He cares about every hour of our life and He has the power to defeat the enemy at every turn so that we can have the abundant life He died to give us. BUT so long as we disobey with, for example, idolatry, doubt and unbelief, He must wait for us to return to our rightful relationship with Him. Remember verse 18 of Isaiah 30?

Idolatry, faith, and trust. Pondering Isiah 30 has given fresh understanding of what idolatry is and what faith and trust are. To me, idolatry is another word for my behavior whenever I lack faith and fail to truly trust God, with genuine confidence. 

Every day of my life, emotions will surge up when I face troubles, short-term and long-term troubles. I will at times wrestle with doubt and fear and other negative feelings. That happens because I am human. But God earnestly imprints the fact of my humanity on His heart (Psalm 103) and has made abundant provision for me to not yield to fear, anger, lust, envy, etc.

God’s provision is to trust Him and obey Him, staying in right relationship with Him. . .
… so that
…… He—God Himself—can
………through His Spirit working in my spirit-
……………fight for me  and
………………….keep me in His perfect peace.

Through His Spirit, He has come to live in me, so I have access to all that I need, and He has given me His Word as a shield and a weapon. If I love and serve Him whole-heartedly, with all my strength and soul and might, He declares me righteous, or in right standing, with Him and He helps me resist and overcome the enemy and live a holy life as well as a peaceful, joyful one.

 A powerful reminder. A friend pointed me to following diamond of a verse a few months ago. It fits with the main message of Isaiah 30.

The Lord of hosts–regard Him as holy and honor His holy name [by regarding Him as your only hope of safety], and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread [lest you offend Him by your fear of man and distrust of Him]. (Isaiah 8:13, AMPC)

Hear the lesson of this verse and take it to heart, oh my soul:

I honor God when I think of Him as my only chance of being protected. I offend God when I fear man or anything of this world and doubt God. He is worthy of my praise. He is worthy of my active, enthusiastic, and passionate trust. He is faithful!

Isaiah 30:22-26.  Then you will defile your carved images overlaid with silver and your molten images plated with gold; you will cast them away as a filthy bloodstained cloth, and you will say to them, Be gone!

²³ Then will He give you rain for the seed with which you sow the soil, and bread grain from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. ²⁴ The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory and salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and with fork.

²⁵ And upon every high mountain and upon every high hill there will be brooks and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter [the day of the Lord], when the towers fall [and all His enemies are destroyed].

²⁶ Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days [concentrated in one], in the day that the Lord binds up the hurt of His people, and heals their wound [inflicted by Him because of their sins].

 In Parts One through Six, we:

• examined the context and main points of Isaiah 30,
• discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the one true God,
• saw God explain to Israel how their rebellion against His ways would cause calamity,
• examined verse 18, which described how God earnestly, eagerly waits and longs for us to return to Him and that, while He waits, He is getting ready to show us mercy and loving-kindness when we return to Him., and
• began looking at some of the unbelievable things God is earnestly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

In Part Seven, we will continue exploring those unbelievable things God longs to do for us.

22: “Then you will defile your carved images overlaid with silver and your molten images platted with gold; you will cast them away as a filthy bloodstained cloth, and you will say to them, Be gone!” Take a moment to consider how idols were made in those times. An image was carved of wood or molded of an inferior metal and then overlaid with costly gold or silver. Its outward appearance was beautiful and seemed of great price. But its real, internal hidden nature was worthless. Even so, things of this world are worthless. As the poem by C. T. Studd says, “Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” That is why 2 Corinthians 4:18 urges us to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. “(NIV.)

Once God enables us to see Him and to hear His directions for living, we see our idols for the filthy things they are and we “cast them away.” Cast means to forcefully throw something far away. Think about casting out a fishing net or better than that, throwing a bag of garbage in the dumpster.

23a. “Then will He give you rain for the seed with which you sow the soil, and bread grain from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful..” This verse is another of the “thens” or consequences of returning to God, resting in Him, and trusting confidently in Him (v. 15.) This verse is another of the ways God is “expecting, looking and longing” to be gracious to us.

When we are in right relationship with God, we are blessed in what we do. Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and see what awaits those who “fully obey” the Lord our God. This promise in Isaiah 30 is another instance of the principle we see in Deuteronomy 28. He blesses our life – He blesses our efforts (sends rain), makes those efforts accomplish their purpose (He makes our efforts supply our needs) and He does so richly, plentifully.

23b-24. “. . . In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory and salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. In verses 23, 25, and 26 where “the day” or “that day” are used, commentaries indicate that it means the day when “God will take severe vengeance upon the enemies of His people.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary). Matthew Henry thought that perhaps it meant the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, or the overthrow of the Roman Empire but that certainly the day of the Lord meant the ultimate destruction of Satan and his kingdom.

I believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, that is, I believe that everything described in the Bible actually happened or will actually happen. I also believe that God intended for us to apply the Bible to our individual lives and that part of that application is interpreting the Bible figuratively. For example, the Israelites did wander in the wilderness forty years but that wandering in the barren wilderness—when they could have been living in the blessings of the Promised Land– is also is a picture of us when we rebel against God by doubting Him. One passage can have many interpretations and applications.

Having explained that, I believe that the day in which these blessings will happen are–in addition to the interpretations suggested above–the day or time that we return to Him in quietness and trusting confidence (v. 15) and thus find strength.

All we need to work with. In Verses 23b-24, when God is talking about well-cared for cattle and oxen and donkeys, He is assuring us that when we return to trusting and obeying Him we will have an abundance of everything we need to work with. A large pasture means plenty of good grass for cattle. Oxen and donkeys tilling the sol need quality feed (“savory and salted fodder that had been winnowed with shovel and fork”) in order to have strong, powerful bodies for their work. To me, this says that we will have whatever we need to do our work, to live our life of loving service to God. We will have plenty of what we need and it will be of good quality. God is not stingy or cheap!

25. “And upon every high mountain and every high hill there will be brooks and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter [the day of the Lord], when the towers fall [and all His enemies are destroyed.]. Notice the “and”, which connects the blessings in Verse 25 with those that came before. And. . . in that day we will have all the water we need – everywhere we turn. Brooks and streams are both bodies of running water, but brooks are smaller, generally shorter and often found in rugged terrain. An area with brooks flowing through its nooks and crannies makes life far easier for humans and livestock alike than an area with only one stream, which is actually a small river. Water represents Holy Spirit, our Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13.) When we trust God, we have an abundance of Him to satisfy our thirst (1 Corinthians 12:13). We have an abundance of Him everywhere—even in the difficult to traverse places where refreshment seems unlikely, those nooks and crannies of everyday life and those painful, hard to get through moments. And we do not have to wat while we travel to get this water.

Remember the blog post of February 24, 2023, where we examined Psalm 95:11-12? “ Light is sown for the [uncompromisingly] righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart [the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection] (AMPC).” Like the image of brooks in numerous spots in rugged terrain, Psalm 95:11-12 is another picture of how God daily prepares what we need, including long, satisfying drinks of Himself, all along the path we will take that day.

Verse 26a. Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days [concentrated in one].  According to Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible types (p. 290-291), the word light “is used in many ways in the Scripture. Sometimes. . . it refers to the Word of God, as in Psalm 119:105. . .” Sometimes it also “refers to the walk of the believer in which he serves the Lord in a godly way, and directs life according to the Word of God, as in 1 John 1:7).  In our verse, Isaiah 30:26, I believe light means God’s guidance for us when we are fully trusting and obeying Him. We see here that even in our dark times and situations, in the night seasons of our life, God will provide clear guidance for us because the light we have in our darkness (our moon in those times, so to speak) will be as bright as day. Furthermore, in the other times of our life, we will have guidance so clear that it will be like the sunshine of seven days concentrated into one. Now, that’s clear guidance!

Verse 26b. in the day that the Lord binds up the hurt of His people, and heals their wound [inflicted by Him because of their sins].  All these blessings from verse 20b through 26 will come upon us when God restores us to where we were before we turned away from Him to idols.  Binding up a wound reduces swelling, guards against infection and feels comforting. God comforts us when we turn to Him and He heals the wounds we brought on ourselves by our rebellion. This all-mighty, all-powerful God, this God our healer is the One Who looks and eagerly longs to be gracious to us while we stumble along in the darkness. What causes that darkness? It is  caused by our rebellion, our relying on the world, our refusal to return to Him, to rest in Him, and to quietly find our strength in trusting Him with confidence and expectation (Isaiah 30:15.)

Applying the Word.  Remember that this principle—that when we rebel against God He is watching and eagerly longing to be gracious to us—applies to every scale of time and to countless situations. When I spend the morning fretting about car repairs, God is all the while eagerly longing for me to return to fully trusting Him so that He can give me peace. When a prodigal pursues the world, for decades, God is all that time eagerly expecting, looking and longing to be gracious.

I believe that the eagerness of the father in the story of the prodigal son is what God feels for even “little” turnings away from Him. How would you feel if you were on a special vacation with your beloved adult children and they chose to spend half the day away from you. How would you feel if you were walking in the woods with your toddler who got mad because you would not let her pick poison ivy and refused to walk beside you? God watches over us and walks with us every moment of every day, and He just wants us to talk with Him and think about Him. He just wants us to love Him and share the moments of our life with Him. He is our loving, doting, compassionate, gracious, kind, caring, joyous, laughing Father. He is our joy, He is our strength, He is our peace. And He loves us and wants the best for us, the things that are truly best.

In Part Eight, we will learn about the power of God as He fights for us and the joy He promises while He does so.

Isaiah 30:19-21.  O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.

²⁰ And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes will constantly behold your Teacher.

²¹ And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.

in Parts One through Five, we:

• examined the context and main points of Isaiah 30,
• discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the one true God,
• saw God explain to Israel how their rebellion against His ways would cause calamity, and
• examined verse 18, which described how God earnestly, eagerly waits and longs for us to return to Him and that, while He waits, He is getting ready to show us mercy and loving-kindness when we begin again to whole-heartedly trust Him and whole-heartedly obey Him.

In Part Six, we start looking at some of the unbelievable things God is earnestly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

[v, 19] O people who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Can you hear the sincerity, the pleading in that “O people”? “Oh” is a strong cry that expresses sudden and intense emotion. The writer of this book, Isaiah the prophet, must have had a crystal-clear idea of how much God wanted to bless His people because it made him start this section of his prophecy with the intense exclamation “Oh people.”

Then Isaiah says their sorrows will cease because God will surely be gracious to them. Here in verse 19, he repeats the word gracious from verse 18 (“And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you.”)   The word gracious reminds us of a host or hostess, someone who kindly, generously gives us the best of their home, their best chair, their best food and drink and entertainment. It speaks of someone who has gone out of their way to prepare good things specifically for us. The root word of gracious is, of course, grace.

Webster’s 1828 online dictionary says the main idea of grace is free, ready, quick, and willing. It means good will, favor, kindness and a tendency to help another. Specifically, it means “The free unmerited love and favor of God.”  That is the point Isaiah is making here and the main idea of Isaiah 30:19-33. The whole time we rebel and refuse to trust and obey Him, God is longing, eagerly looking to be gracious to us when we return to Him.

Remember that in Part Four we examined the last part of Isaiah 30:18 which shows us that God must wait on us to return to Him because He is fair and gives what is due. That means we experience the consequences of our rebellion and idol worship. But God is abundant in mercy and loving-kindness and He is ever looking and longing to be gracious to us.

[v. 20-a] And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. . .  This verse clearly tells us that God sometimes sends adversity and affliction to us. Sometimes, trials and troubles come to train us (Hebrews 12, James 1) but sometimes we bring them on ourselves by our rebellion. When we err, God lovingly corrects us because He loves us.  And sometimes that correction is painful. This is a fact of the believer’s life and one we must accept, gratefully. It is stated in the Bible in words, in principles, and in stories.

Consider Lamentations 3. Verse 33 says clearly that “God does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men. . . (AMPC) “ but that both calamites and good things come from God and that we should examine ourselves, repent and ask for forgiveness from God. Then, from the pit of our despair and our desperate circumstances, God will hear us, He will draw near and He will say ‘Fear not”. And we will see that God has been rescuing and redeeming our life all along, just as when Jeremiah was in a pit.  (Lamentations 3:34-58).

[20b-21] “. . . yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes will constantly behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “this is the way; walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.”   Think now on the last half of Isaiah 30:20. The “anymore” means that for a time, some previous time, God our Teacher did hide Himself from us, He did for some previous time not let us see Him. He does this while we worship idols, while we insist on rebelling against His ways and while we refuse to trust, lean, rely on and be confident in Him. In that condition, we, like the idols that we are worshipping, become blind, deaf and dumb.  Ponder Psalm 115, especially verse 8, which says “those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”  Verse 8 is talking about those who make and trust in idols, as described in the previous verses. But notice what Isaiah says God will do once we return to Him.

Once we repent and turn back to God, He lets us see Him.  He speaks very clearly to us, constantly, and very specifically. Psalm 25 describes the happy, fortunate and to be envied state of the one who humbly fears the Lord. Verses 12 and 13 say that God will teach such a person in “the way chosen for him, he will spend his days in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land. (NIV)”

Such a one is blessed in the best way possible by having the friendship and closeness of the Lord. Psalm 25:14 in the AMPC says “The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.”

To have these blessings requires the attitude and actions the psalmist demonstrates in Psalm 25:1-11 and that we see in Isaiah 30. We must trust in God, repent of our sins and ask for His guidance, reminding ourselves of His goodness, fairness, and His great love. This is the attitude God wanted the Israelites He was addressing in Isaiah’s time (and us now!) to have. When we have this attitude, we stop all idol worship because we see it for the detestable, worthless thing it is.

In Part Seven, we will continue looking at the unbelievable things God is earnestly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! (Isaiah 30:18, AMPC, emphasis added)

Review: After examining the context and main points of Isaiah 30 in Part One, in Part Two, we discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the one true God, the Maker of heaven and earth. In Part Three, covering Isaiah 30:10-17, we saw God explain to Israel how their rebellion against His ways would cause calamity. In Part Four, we examined verse 18, which describes what God is earnestly doing as He watches over us and waits for us to return to trusting Him and whole-heartedly obeying Him. In Part Five, we will examine the second half of Isaiah 30:18.

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those . . .”Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!” (Isaiah 30:18b, AMPC, emphasis added)

One of the first passages I memorized as a new believer was Matthew 5:3-12, well known as “the Beatitudes” or the be-attitudes. Each of the beatitudes begins with the word blessed. The word blessed appears 295 times in the AMPC, blessing 188, and bless 576. Blessing obviously is important to God. So, what does blessed mean?

Westers 1828 online dictionary defines blessed (an adjective) as “Happy; prosperous in worldly affairs; enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God; enjoying heavenly felicity.” As a verb, to bless means “To make happy; to make successful; to prosper in temporal concerns; as, we are blest with peace and plenty.” No wonder the clarifying phrases of the AMPC are “happy, fortunate, to be envied”!

So, whenever God promises a blessing, we should be eager to find out how to obtain that blessing. God knows the human heart. He knows how to motivate us. Living out the beatitudes–being meek, merciful, pure-hearted, and a peacemaker, etc.–is not easy, but each command in the beatitudes is linked to a blessing.  Everything God tells His children to do is for their good and brings about blessing. God wants us to know this. It motivates us toward good behavior. He says in Hebrews 11:6 “For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out] (AMPC).”

God also wants us to know that He will give us strength to follow His commands. Consider Isaiah 40:29. “He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].” emphasis added) Consider also Exodus 15:2, Joshua 14:11, and Psalm 10:17, which is just a start on examples of God’s giving His children strength.

Some of the conditions that bring about blessing are easier to live out, like earnestly waiting, watching for and expecting God.

. . . who [earnestly] wait for Him]

“Here Nana. Do you want a piece of my cookie? You can have it.”

I looked at the small outstretched hand, still so tender, soft and unformed, the tendons that one day will be cabled with male strength now veiled beneath soft flesh, the fingers that one day will be thickened now slender, the skin that one day will be hairy now smooth. I smiled. Pinched between thumb and forefinger was a teaspoon-size piece of his double chocolate chip cookie.

“Oh, yes! Thank you darling!” I said as I took the offering from my grandson’s hand.

“Mmmmmm.  That is delicious! Thank you!

I ask you, is anything on earth sweeter than the face of a young boy offering a gift? Such earnestness, such whole-hearted sincerity, such clear and pure love enlightening features as yet largely indistinguishable from those of a girl, brow ridge not yet formed, brows not yet thickened, jaw as yet unsquared, chin as yet not more noticeably protruding. And the eyes, those windows to the soul, so filled with light, with joy, with sincerity.

My grandson, his brother and I were celebrating the end of school at in the small dine-in area in their favorite bakery.  That cookie was a treasure to him. When he finished, he always popped into his mouth any large crumbs left on the table or the napkin. Two or three years earlier, his gifts had been mere pinches of cookie but generosity had grown. And I had treasured those mere pinches as much as this larger piece. My grandson gave of his best to me with earnestness.

Webster’s 1828 online dictionary defines earnest as “Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain; having a longing desire; warmly engaged or incited.”  Also, “Serious; important; that is, really intent or engaged; whence the phrase, in earnest To be in earnest is to be really urging or stretching towards an object; intent on a pursuit.”

Think now of the last part of Isaiah 30:18. Because of Israel’s idolatry and rebellion against Him and His ways, God is earnestly waiting, “[expecting, looking and longing] to be gracious to” them. It is only fitting that we, too, should earnestly wait for Him.  Whole-heartedly. Sincerely. Ardently. Passionately. Go to Bible Gateway and look at the 180 times Holy Spirit moved on His anointed writers to use the word earnest or earnestly. Notice also that it is used to express both God’s feelings toward us as well as what our feelings should be toward Him.

How do we earnestly wait? Read through Psalm 106 and note the word earnestly in verses 7, 13, and 45. The psalmist is declaring the mighty deeds the Lord did with Israel and the psalmist is giving God the praise that is due Him. In verse13 the psalmist says “our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles, they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness [on their hearts]. . .” The psalmist goes on to recount the many times God delivered Israel out of troubles they had brought on themselves. And he states that, even then, they remained rebellious and became even more wicked. Yet God “[earnestly] remembered for their sake His covenant.” And He rescued them yet again.

It is exactly the same with each of us today as it was with ancient Israel. We vow to follow God, but we fail in countless unintentional and far too often intentional ways. Yet God earnestly forgives us when we earnestly, sincerely, turn to Him, put Him first by obeying Him and trusting in Him rather than our idols and our rebellious way of living. Our earnest repentance moves His heart (Psalm 51:17).

And what are we to earnestly do? Wait for Him. That means obey and then wait, with confident expectation, for Him to deliver, bless and guide as He promises. In Isaiah 30, Israel sinned by relying on the help of Egypt against their enemies and refusing to “hear the law and instruction of the Lord.” Part of God’s laws and instructions to them was verse 15 when He said, “In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength.” But Israel’s actions told God “Get out of my way! I do not want to hear about the Holy One of Israel!” We do the same when, in trying to solve a problem, we disobey God. We also do the same when we let worry or fear or other wrong emotions dominate us, rather than waiting on God to act while we rest our souls, quietly and confidently, in Him.

This last is a hard saying. How are we rebelling against God when we worry or live in fear? Prayerfully read Hebrews 3:7-19. When we worry or live in fear, we are not believing God and His promises, just like the Israelites who refused to believe God would give them the promised land had ”sinful, unbelieving hearts” that turned “away from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12, NIV).  When we worry, we are refusing to believe God will fulfill His promises of peace and provision for us. Like Israel, our “sinful, unbelieving heart” causes us to turn away from God because we do not believe God is really sovereign over everything and we do not believe He actually means Romans 8:28 and Genesis 50:20. God swore that those who disobeyed would never enter His rest because of their unbelief. (v. 16-20.)  Just like Israel, we disobey and we deprive ourselves of living in the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Most commonly used translations render the second half of Isaiah 30:18 as “Blessed are all those who wait for Him.” We must obey God and then wait for Him, rather than taking the matter into our own hands. Consider one of Saul’s chief errors. When facing the Philistine army, instead of waiting on the priest, Saul offered sacrifices himself. God then told Saul that his kingdom would not endure but instead would be given to a man after His own heart, because Saul had not kept the Lord’s command (1 Samuel 13:5-14). God has orderly ways of doing things and has designated an orderly way of life for His children. We are to live as He says to, in hard as well as easy times, and wait, with confident expectation, for Him to fulfill His promises.

. . . who expect and look and long for Him. Notice that God is described as expecting, looking and longing to be gracious to us and we are blessed if we wait for Him and expect and look and long for Him. When we expect something, we believe that something will happen. Expecting is synonymous with trusting and faith. We are also to be looking for God, which means our eyes will be focused fully on Him, just as our eyes will be focused on the door of a coffee shop if we are looking for a friend who has promised to meet us.

And think about that word long. Far stronger than mere wanting, longing implies yearning, pining, craving, and having a hunger for something. When your husband or wife serves in the military and you have not seen him or her for thirteen months, do you want or do you long to see him or her? Think about it.

. . . [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! Most translations end Isaiah 30:18 with the word “Him.” The AMPC, as always, adds more understanding.

One of many reasons I love the Amplified Classic Bible (AMPC) is its amplifying phrases guide your mind as you meditate. You have the subtle meanings of those key words or phrases that speakers of the original hearers would have automatically understood.

Think about that in reverse. When I say “Let’s go get a burger” you know I mean go to a fast food place or a restaurant and eat a piece of beef on a bun. An ancient Israelite would not understand us. Likewise, when we read words written for people living in Bible times such as faith in Colossians 1:4, we do not automatically think, as they would, that faith means “ [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].”

In Isaiah 30:18, the AMPC lists for us some of God’s countless wonderful aspects to comfort and stir ourselves with as we wait on Him. We are to wait for, expect and look and long for the following from Him. Let’s look at these aspects of God we are to expect and look and long for.

—His victory – God always, always, always comes through for His children (Hebrews 13:5), and He always, always, always wins (Psalm 33), and He stores up victory for the righteous (I John 5:4, Deuteronomy 20:4,I Corinthians 50:57.).

–His favor – God surrounds the righteous with His favor as with a shield. Psalm 5:12 promises that if we are upright and in right standing with God, He will shield us with His goodwill, pleasure and favor. That means God will make people kindly disposed toward us, we will have pleasant things in this life, and we will experience His special kindnesses and support.

––His love – I do not know how many sermons, books, songs and poems have been written about the love of God but were you to multiply them by a trillion you would barely have a beginning. I can only echo Charles Wesley and say, “O, for a thousand tongues to sing. . .” and Frederick M. Lehman, who wrote:

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”

–His peace. I could say the same about the peace that God gives. It truly is far, far, far beyond our human ability to comprehend (Philippians 4:7). Jesus promises His peace, not the peace of the world (John 14:27). At the last meal Jesus would share with His disciples, He taught them, and us, many things, and ended by saying:

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have  tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]  (John 16:33, AMPC, emphasis added.)

—His joy. Another thing we are to be expecting, looking and longing for as we obey God and then wait on Him, is His joy. Joy is used 250 times in the AMPC, rejoice 214, glad 163, happy 108, and, some form of bless, 576 times. It is also the second-mentioned fruit of the spirit. Joy was, pre-fall, the natural state of the human heart.  It is the natural state of children before the world, the flesh and the enemy steal it. Joy is, in all its marvelous manifestations, one of God’s greatest gifts. Psalm 35:27 tells us God delights to give His children joy.

Why? One reason God delights in giving us joy is that His joy is our strength. In Nehemiah 8, when the people were grieved because they had just heard and understood God’s laws and become aware of their great sin, God told them, through Ezra:

“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold. So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy. And do not be grieved and sad.” (Nehemiah 8:10-11, emphasis added).

God requires true sorrow and repentance for our sin but He does not want us to remain sorrowful! How quickly He draws us back into His arms, and presses us close.

You may have seen this picture of Jesus holding a lamb close to His face. I have two framed prints of it in my two-bedroom condo. I can never glance quickly at it. What an anointing must have been on the artist! Notice that Jesus has pulled that little lamb close to His face. Can’t you feel Him gently pressing His cheek into that fluffy fleece, like a parent clasping a child or lover embracing lover? See the fingers of the nail-scarred hand spread wide, tenderly supporting and holding the lamb securely. See the eyes of the Good Shepherd, closed by the intensity of joy and pleasure flooding through Him. That is how God feels about you, this moment, no matter your situation.

–And His matchless, unbroken companionship. Matchless means incomparable, beyond comparison, unequalled, unsurpassed, supreme above all else. Once we taste and see how good God’s companionship is, we never want to do anything to interrupt that. We say with David “As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.  My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? (Psalm 42:1-2, AMPC)

If we have God’s companionship, we are satisfied, dwelling in unsearchable peace. The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning. (Psalm 25:14, AMPC)

According to www.gotquestions.org, the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:23-27 has been extensively used since it was first uttered. But that blessing has been given permanently to believers living after Calvary’s work was completed.

“For ancient Israel, the Aaronic Blessing expressed the highest state of blessing that the nation would enjoy as they were faithful to God. The application is slightly different for the New Covenant believer. Jesus Christ has already granted us all of the things that are asked for in the Aaronic Blessing, and they have been granted on a permanent basis. Our direct experience of these things can fluctuate over time. For the believer, this blessing should be a reminder of what one has in Christ. It should also be a prayer for a fuller understanding of God’s blessings in Christ and for the corresponding feelings that should accompany that understanding.”

And the Lord said to Moses,

²³ Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them, ²⁴ The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; ²⁵ The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; ²⁶ The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually). ²⁷ And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Have you ever heard that “You can have as much of God as you want.”  I believe it because the Word backs that statement up Fellow believer, you and I can have awareness of the unparalleled joy of God’s companionship — in proportion to our waiting and hoping in Him (Psalm 33:22.)  We can have God’s face shine upon us.

So I say let us strive to “dwell in the shelter of the Most High” so that we may “remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand.]” Let us “say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely and in Him I [confidently] trust!”

If we do that, all the promises of Psalm 91 will be ours. Consider the footnote for Psalm 91 in the AMPC: “The rich promises of this whole chapter are dependent upon one’s meeting exactly the conditions of these first two verses (see Exod. 15:26).” Selah, oh selah!

In Part Six, we will start looking at all that God is earnestly, eagerly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

So the Lord must wait for you to come to Him
so He can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.  (Isaiah 30:18, NLT, emphasis added)

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! (Isaiah 30:18, AMPC, emphasis added)

Review: In Part One, we briefly examined the context of Isaiah 30 and summarized the main points. In Part Two, covering Isaiah 30:1-9, we discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the One True God, the Maker of heaven and earth. In Part Three, covering Isaiah 30:10-17, we saw God explain to Israel how their rebellion against His ways would cause calamity to fall upon them. In Part Four, we will examine verse 18, which describes what God is earnestly doing as He watches over us and waits for us to return to trusting Him and whole-heartedly obeying Him.

Do you see how God explains why? Analyzing a passage of Scripture to uncover the reasons God does something is instructive and motivating. Go back and notice each therefore, for and yet in Isaiah 30:1-17 in the AMPC. God is telling Israel, and us, clearly that when we depend on and seek worldly things more than Him, that that worldly thing will bring us shame, humiliation and confusion. Why? Because the help of the world is worthless. God commanded Isaiah to write that message down as a lesson forevermore. Why? Verse 9 says because we are rebellious and will not hear His law and instruction, because we say by our conduct that we want to hear “smooth things”, that we do not want to hear about God’s holiness.

In verse 12 and 13, God says “therefore” (because of all that which I just said, which is that you despise and spurn Me), “this iniquity and guilt will be to you like a broken section of a high wall, bulging out and ready [at some distant day] to fall, whose crash will [then] come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant.” God says that what you depended on in place of Me will be smashed to utter uselessness.

Why? In Verse 15 God says I told you that “In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength” But, you would not. Not only that, but you said you would get away quickly from your enemy on your horses, “doing our own way.”  God goes on to say that because of that, those who pursue you will be the swift ones. You will be terrorized until you are utterly scattered and utterly alone. The Living Bible phrases it: “One of them will chase a thousand of you! Five of them will scatter you until not two of you are left together. You will be like lonely trees on the distant mountaintops.”

Applying Verses 1-17 to us today. Today, we follow the same path when we persist in engaging in idol worship. We may use alcohol or drugs or whatever to escape our troubles but eventually the very thing we depend on will cause us shame, humiliation, and confusion. It will become obvious how our idol worship is destroying us. Some forms of idol worship, as we saw before, are hair-splittingly subtle and the path to destruction may be longer, yet the end is always the same.

But look how God is waiting. Verse 18 is surely one of the most reassuring and comforting verses in the Bible. While we are in the midst of our detestable idolatrous lifestyle, actively spurning and rejecting God and going our own stubborn, sinful, vile way, God is all the time earnestly waiting, expecting, looking and longing to be gracious to us!

¹⁸ And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. (Isaiah 30:18a, AMPC)

Hear the passion in those words!  Let’s take time to examine this verse phrase by phrase. God took time to record a clear statement of the depth of His love for us. We owe His words careful attention.

And therefore. This therefore connects verse 18 with all the verses that came before. It means to me that every time we put something before God and, as is inevitable, end up terrified, alone and defenseless, God is eagerly watching and waiting to rescue us. Every time. We cannot err without God eagerly watching and waiting to restore us. “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer.” (I Peter 3:12, AMPC)

. . . the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines earnest as ardent (which means passionate) in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain; having a longing desire; serious; warmly engaged or incited; really intent, fixed. “To be in earnest is to be really urging or stretching towards an object; intent on a pursuit.”

Ponder each of these words. Is it not the picture of the prodigal son’s father who was earnestly waiting to the extent that he had his eyes fixed on the far horizon and thus was able to see his returning son from far away? Luke 15:20 tells us that while the returning prodigal “was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].” (AMPC).

When we reject Him and His ways, God is earnestly waiting, “expecting, looking and longing to be gracious” to us. He is moved with pity and tenderness for us, for He knows how we are made (Psalm 103). He yearns, He longs for the chance to be kind and forgiving toward us and to give us good and pleasant things, to be gracious.

Websters 1828 says gracious means “favorable, kind, benevolent, disposed to forgive offenses and impart unmerited blessings.” The root of the word grace connotes ready, quick, prompt, willing.” And then it says “from advancing.” To me, that means from a position of advancing, of reaching. It suggests the father of the prodigal, the loving and merciful father who was eagerly looking down that road and ran to embrace his beloved son.

In that culture and at that time, it was disgraceful for an honorable man to tuck up his robes and run. It would be like running down the street in our underwear today  https://rb.gy/d3xz3. Some commentators also say that the father ran in order to walk beside his son and, by his presence, spare his son the ridicule of the villagers. That seems consistent with how God always makes provision for each detail of our life.

But I also think that the father of the prodigal simply could not contain his emotions. His heart simply overflowed with joy. What a thing to ponder, that God is somehow, in some way, overcome by His love for us and His desire to bring us home to Himself. Selah, oh selah! Every word of God is flawless (Proverbs 30:5), and this sentence is no mistake. God obviously wants us to understand how much He loves us and how eager He is to forgive and welcome us back into the shelter of His arms.

And therefore He lifts Himself up, that he may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. The several commentaries I read generally concurred that this phrase “lifts Himself up” means God will “bestir himself, and will work gloriously on your behalf.” (Matthew Poole commentary). This is one of those phrases where, even though I’ve tried, I am not exactly sure what God means so I ask Him to make it clear and then go on with the rest of the text. The rest of the sentence clearly says that God is wanting to show us mercy and loving-kindness. Obviously, we need His mercy! And how stirring to be told that He is wanting to show us loving-kindness. That means He is longing to be tender and affectionate with us because He is fond of us. When you are fond of someone, you adore them, you are devoted to them, and you dote on them. Think about that a while!

For the Lord is a God of justice. Keeping the story of the prodigal son in mind helps me understand this phrase. We know God is just, which means He acts fairly. He does what is proper and orderly. He gives what is due. Yet we also know He is merciful and kind and that His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever. Recall that Psalm 136 has this statement in each of its 26 verses that describe God’s mercy and loving-kindness toward us, from the time of creation to the time the psalm was written.

So, because God is just and gives what is due, we experience the consequences of our rebellion and idol worship. Yet that same justice works for our rescue because when we repent, turn from our wicked ways, and turn to God, He is, again acting justly when He takes us back to Himself.

At the judgement seat, we will receive what is due to us for what we have done while on earth. (“. . . we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV). Proverbs 11:31 tells us we also receive our just due on earth. “If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!” (NIV) God treats us justly here on earth as well as hereafter.

Now consider how God illustrated those two aspects of Himself, just and merciful, in the prodigal son parable. So long as the prodigal son lived the way of the world, his father was eagerly, earnestly waiting to rescue him but could not until the son repented, turned from his prodigal ways and turned back toward home. But, the instant the father saw his son, he ran to him and restored him to sonship.

So long as I keep going my own way in something, rebelling against what God has commanded rather than putting God first and obeying Him, God must wait to pour His mercy and loving-kindness on me. But the instant I repent and turn toward God, God is right there embracing me.  His eyes are always on me, His ears are attentive to my cry even in the darkest pit I may fall into.

Our earnestly waiting Father. I thank God for artists who devote their talents to Him. There are more than a thousand of God’s tenderest words for us in this picture of the prodigal son in his father’s embrace. See the father’s brow creased with the intensity of his feelings, the entire brow of the fine old noble head drawn inward, eyes crushed closed. See the hand, blue-veined with age but yet strong, work-thickened fingers spread and clutching as wide a span as possible of his son’s dear flesh. Can’t you feel the father pressing his head close to the boy’s?

Do you see the son, a little shorter, perhaps not yet having reached his adult height, reaching up and around his father’s neck? Don’t you know the father is clenching his son as close to his chest as he can? Don’t you know tears are overspilling their eyes and coursing crookedly across cheeks lifted in smiles of irrepressible joy?

Beloved, that is how our heavenly Father longs to embrace us.  This eager earnestness of our Father toward us is the same whether we have walked away from Him for hours, days or years. Think of young lovers, as eager to see each other when separated for a day as for a week. If that is human love, how much stronger and deeper is the love our Father has for us? Pondering that makes it easier—once I perceive the disgusting mess that dependence on self and this world have led me into—to turn back, in true humility and submission, to my loving, earnestly waiting Father.

Part Five: In Part Five, we will finish Isaiah 30:18 and start looking at the rest of the  chapter, at all that God is earnestly, eagerly longing to do for us when we return to Him.

Review: In Part One, we briefly examined the context of Isaiah 30 and summarized the main points. In Part Two, covering Isaiah 30:1-9, we discussed the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the One True God, the Maker of heaven and earth. In Part Three, we will examine verses 10-17, which explain one reason why God sometimes must wait to help us.

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! (Isaiah 30:18, AMPC)

Idol worship is subtle. In verses 1 through 9 we learned, through seeing what God said about Israel’s actions, that when we do not trust God and instead trust something or someone else and take action based on trusting that thing or that person, we are guilty of idol worship. This is rebellion against God because we are not hearing—which is to say, not doing—the things He says we are to do. One thing He says do is

trust Him and obey Him and
depend on Him to provide and deliver.

You may think: “I am not rebelling against God in anything. I am doing what I should do.” I hope that is true. However, it is valuable to remember that we all rebel in many ways. We rebel when:

• We do something He says do not do, like when we show favoritism by avoiding the  hard-to-love people God puts in our path. See James 2.
• We fail to do something He says to do, like when we neglect prayer and Bible study. God says to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NIV). What would your spouse or friends think if you did not speak with them for a day or week even though they were with you all that time? Or what if you did not read the letters they wrote while away for three months?

Our conduct shows in whom, or what, we trust. This thing about who we trust is as subtle as a razor is sharp. It is potentially dangerous spiritually. The enemy is always seeking ways to steal our love and obedience to God, so we need to ask God to search our hearts (Psalm 139:23-24). We also need to examine ourselves regularly (2 Corinthians 13:5). One way to do that is to consider what we are doing. We reveal who we trust by our conduct, by what we do, just like Israel in Isaiah 30. When Israel purchased help from Egypt, they showed they refused to trust God and wait for Him.

How might idol worship look today?

• If I spend my entire paycheck on bills instead of paying my tithes and offerings first, I am trusting my money. I am rebelling against God by refusing to trust Him to take care of me.
• If I fill each hour of every day with noise or other people and avoid time alone with God, so that I can give Him my total attention, I am not trusting God to be my companion.
• If I say there is not enough time for daily devotions, I am failing to trust that God is sovereign over time. I am trusting in myself and I am, by my actions, saying that whatever I did that day is more important to me than God.
• If I say I just cannot understand when I study the Bible for myself so I’ll listen to others teach and preach, I am disobeying God’s command to study His Word. I am failing to trust that God Himself can teach me. I am also accusing Him of being unfair because my actions say I believe He has told me to do something that is beyond my abilities.

Isaiah 30:10-11.  Now consider verses 10 through 11.

Who [virtually] say to the seers [by their conduct], See not! and to the prophets, Prophesy not to us what is right! Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceitful illusions.  Get out of the true way, turn aside out of the path, cease holding up before us the Holy One of Israel. (emphasis added)

God says very clearly that Israel rejected him by the things they did, by depending on Egypt for help. Their actions were saying they did not want to hear about the Holy One of Israel and His ways, one of which is for His people to trust Him to be their Shield and Defender (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 91, Psalm 34:7 and on and on.)

Isaiah 30:12-14. In the next three verses, God explains why disaster will overtake them.

¹² Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you despise and spurn this [My] word and trust in cunning and oppression, in crookedness and perverseness, and rely on them,

¹³ Therefore this iniquity and guilt will be to you like a broken section of a high wall, bulging out and ready [at some distant day] to fall, whose crash will [then] come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant.

¹⁴ And he shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing so that there cannot be found among its pieces one large enough to carry coals of fire from the hearth or to dip water out of the cistern. (emphasis added)

In Verse 12 God just does not say “Therefore”, which means for the reasons that came before, He also restates the reasons. He says to Israel . . . because you despised and spurned My Word and showed by your actions that you trusted your own perverse way of depending on Egypt to save you. . .

Then God says “therefore” again. That makes three times God is emphasizing to Israel that disaster is coming because of their actions. God “does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men.: (Lamentations 3:33, AMPC).  God is compassionate, full of loving kindness and tender mercy. But God is also just and fair. That means our actions must have consequences.

God tells Israel that their sin and guilt will be to them like a bulging wall that will suddenly collapse. The collapse will be shattering, leaving not one useful thing left.

Isaiah 30:15-17:

¹⁵ For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not,” (emphasis added)

In verse 15, God again emphasizes to Israel that it is their sin of refusal to follow His instructions which will bring calamity upon them. God links verses 1 through 14 with verse 15 with that word “For.” God says that verses 1 through 14 will happen because (or for) I told you that you would be saved when you return and rest in me. I told you that you would find strength when you were quiet and had trusting confidence in me. But you would not obey Me!

Verses 16 and 17 continue God’s explanation to Israel about why they will fall into calamity.

¹⁶ And you said, No! We will speed [our own course] on horses! Therefore you will speed [in flight from your enemies]! You said, We will ride upon swift steeds [doing our own way]! Therefore will they who pursue you be swift, [so swift that]

¹⁷ One thousand of you will flee at the threat of one of them; at the threat of five you will flee till you are left like a beacon or a flagpole on the top of a mountain, and like a signal on a hill. (emphasis added)

God says “And”, meaning not only did you refuse to trust in Me but you said you would swiftly escape from your enemy by doing things your own way. So because of that, your enemies will be swift, so swift that they will terrorize you and make you flee in utter panic until you are left totally helpless.

Rebellion—idol worship–takes many forms. As we walk with God, He requires more of us and rebellion, which is to say idol worship, becomes harder to detect. It is easy to let our desires—which we can inaccurately perceive as needs—deceive us into putting something before God.

A personal example: Over the years I’ve walked with God He has cleansed me of many sinful habits and attitudes and replaced them with godly behaviors and attitudes. The last few years, in an effort to avoid eye strain, I often listen to rather than read the Bible and other books. Recently, I discovered an author I liked who was an excellent writer. Listening to him was not only pleasurable but, as a writer, it was instructive. I listened to one book and was delighted to see he had written ten others and was still writing. There was a bit of profanity but not much. However, in the next book he introduced a character with consistently profane language.

I confess that for a while, I kept listening, in spite of doubts, because I was subconsciously reasoning that I needed to hear good examples of writing. I knew Romans 14:23 specifically teaches that if we do something we have doubts about, we are sinning. Yet, I kept listening, ignoring that little guilty feeling inside. Thanks be to God that did not last long, I repented, with many tears.

For about a week, I found no audio books that I enjoyed and that were clean. Why? In the last ten years I had foraged in my library’s audio book catalog and found that most were uninteresting to me, poorly written, or else had profanity and sex scenes or witchcraft or something else that set off alarm bells. So, after deleting that novel with the vile language, I started on some of the books I had already heard four or five times. Then, one evening, quite by accident (ha!) I discovered two new authors and one I had forgotten about who were better writers than the one I had given up.

Everything I have ever given up for the purpose of honoring God has been replaced with something far, far better. Every time, for over forty years. Oh, how good God is!

In Part Four we will examine verse 18, which vividly describes what God is earnestly doing as He watches us and waits for us to return to Him.

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! (Isaiah 30:18, AMPC)

In Part One, we briefly examined the context and main points of Isaiah 30. In Part Two, which covers Isaiah 30:1-9, we will unveil one of the subtle ways the enemy of our souls deceives us into devoting our hearts to idols, rather than the One True God, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Depending on the world, rather than on God. The first half of Isaiah 30 (verses1-17) show us how Israel, when threatened by their bitterest enemy the Assyrians, rebelled against God by taking the treasures of the Temple to purchase help from Egypt, with disastrous results. Verse 18 tells us that all throughout Israel’s dependence on Egypt, God was earnestly, eagerly waiting to shower His love and mercy on them. The second half of Isaiah 30 (verses 19 through 33) show how powerfully God promises to fight for them when they turn away from Egypt and put Him first, which is to say when they stop worshiping Egypt. How had Israel had made Egypt into an idol?

What is an idol? An idol is an object (such as a statue) that represents pagan gods and is worshipped. A person who is deeply loved can also be an idol. So can things, like money, power, and prestige. Carefully consider how Webster’s 1828 online dictionary defines an idol:

“1) An image, form or representation, usually of a man or other animal, consecrated as an object of worship; a pagan deity. Idols are usually statues or images, carved out of wood or stone, or formed of metals, particularly silver or gold.

(2) An image.

(3) A person loved and honored to adoration.

(4) Anything on which we set our affections; that to which we indulge an excessive and sinful attachment.”

Webster’s then quotes “Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:1)” and further states “An idol is anything which usurps the place of God in the hearts of his rational creatures.” (Can you see why this is an excellent dictionary to use for your Bible study?)

I have never been tempted to worship a physical object and, since salvation, I always tried to put God first in my affections. However, for a season I depended on worldly methods as the primary way to handle depression. That was idol worship. Look again at that last comment from Noah Webster:

“An idol is anything which usurps the place of God in the hearts of His rational creatures.”

In Isaiah 30, the Israelites chose to let Egypt usurp the rightful place of God as their defender and provider. They thus engaged in idol worship

What is idol worship?  The first thing we think of when we say worship is the love we show for God when we, as a group or individually, sing songs to God, praise and thank Him and speak of His goodness. We also worship God by how we live our life, by what we do with our our time, energy and affections.

Merriam-Websters dictionary defines worship as “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.” I can be devoted to many things at the same time—God, family, work, horses, good health, friends—but if any of those other things come before God, I make them an idol. If I love anything or anyone more than God or if I count on anything or anyone to meet my needs more than I count on God, I make that person or thing an idol.

The following two paragraphs from www.gotquestions.org make it clear.

“An idol can be anything we place ahead of God in our lives, anything that takes God’s place in our hearts, such as possessions, careers, relationships, hobbies, sports, entertainment, goals, greed, addictions to  alcohol/drugs/gambling/pornography, etc. Some of the things we idolize are clearly sinful. But many . . . can be very good, such as relationships or careers. Yet Scripture tells us that, whatever we do, we are to “do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) and that we are to serve God only (Deuteronomy 6:13; Luke 16:13). “

The article explains that when we pursue such idols, they usurp God’s rightful place in our lives and leave little time to spend with God.  Further, to cope with the hardships of life we sometimes turn to addictive behaviors like drugs or alcohol. And

“. . . even something like excessive reading or television viewing, may be used as a means of temporarily “escaping” a difficult situation or the rigors of daily life.  

As the article goes on to point out, when we place trust in such behaviors, we are making them idols. Then we become, like idols, spiritually useless.  Psalm 115 says that those who make idols become like them – blind, deaf, dumb, useless.

“We need to place our trust in the Lord “who will keep [us] from all harm” (Psalm 121:7) and who has promised to supply all of our needs when we trust in Him. We also need to remember the words of Paul, who teaches us not to be anxious about anything, but rather to pray about everything so the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, can guard our hearts and our minds (Philippians 4:6–7).”

Isaiah 30:1-2. Let’s look at the warning God gives to Israel about depending on Egypt for help rather than on Him when the Assyrian army attacked Israel.

Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel and carry out a plan, but not Mine, and who make a league and pour out a drink offering, but not of My Spirit, thus adding sin to sin; Who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked Me—to flee to the stronghold of Pharaoh and to strengthen themselves in his strength and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

God says that trouble (woe) is coming to His children who have rebelled against Him by seeking advice and making agreements contrary to what He has told them to do.

Isaiah 30:3-7. God has told them countless times–and demonstrated to them countless times—that He is and will always be their Helper, Defender and Protector. He has taught and demonstrated to them that He is sovereign over all that is. Yet, they refused to trust Him and instead have sent to Egypt for help. It is a vile thing to God when we have “unworthy and unwarranted” suspicions regarding His faithfulness (Jeremiah 15:19).  Vile means disgustingly depraved or filthy. If God says even our best efforts to be righteous are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), how much more filthy and disgusting is it when we do not even try to do what is right and trust Him to be Who He says He is?

³ Therefore shall the strength and protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt be to your humiliation and confusion. ⁴ For though [Pharaoh’s] officials are at Zoan and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes [in Egypt], ⁵ Yet will all be ashamed because of a people [the Egyptians] who cannot profit them, who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and disgrace.

Depending on idols leads to great harm. God next says that because of their actions in verses 1 and 2, the thing they chose to depend on (the strength and protection of the world) will cause them shame, humiliation and confusion.  They will become aware of how wrong and foolish their behavior was, they will be embarrassed, and they will be confused. The reason is that, even though Egypt and Pharoah (the world) seem to be powerful and everyone pays homage to them, they are of no help and only cause loss of respect and honor.

⁶ A mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning the beasts of the South (the Negeb): Oh, the heavy burden, the load of treasures going to Egypt! Through a land of trouble and anguish, in which are lioness and lion, viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that will not and cannot profit them.

⁷ For Egypt’s help is worthless and toward no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.

Wicked King Ahaz, as other kings had done, took the treasures of the Temple and the palace, loaded them on camels and donkeys and sent them across the desert to buy help from Egypt. The Enduring Word commentary observes that Isaiah felt sorry for the beasts of burden because they were carrying such heavy loads of treasures across the fiercely hot and dangerous dessert and it was all for nothing – because the help of Egypt was worthless and would do no good.

 We weaken ourselves when we depend on idols. The Matthew Henry Commentary notes that those who “trust in God, in His power, providence and promise are never made ashamed of their hope” but those that put their confidence. . . “ in anything or anyone else will be disappointed sooner or later. Our “strength is to sit still, in a humble dependence upon God and His goodness and a quiet submission to His will. . . “ rather than seeking help elsewhere. If we stay calm in troubling times, quietly waiting for God’s help and using only “lawful regular methods”, this will strengthen our soul and “engage divine strength for us.”

Matthew Henry says “We weaken ourselves, and provoke God to withdraw from us, when we make flesh our arm, for then our hearts depart from the Lord.” When we tire of seeking help elsewhere, we will find rest when we finally say to our Creator “Here I am. Do with me as You please.”

Isaiah 30:8-9

⁸ Now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be as a witness for the time to come forevermore.

⁹ For this is a rebellious people, faithless and lying sons, children who will not hear the law and instruction of the Lord;

God commanded that His prophecy be written down. When the events He predicted happened, it would be evidence of His omniscience and omnipotence, for people living in those times and for you and me today.

God said that Israel was rebellious because they would not hear His instructions, which means to take His instructions to heart and follow them. God had demonstrated His omnipotence and faithfulness and instructed Israel to depend on and trust in Him. Yet they ignored Him and decided to depend on Egypt, rather than Him, for help against their enemies. This was rebellion against God.

What might that look like today? It is impossible to remind ourselves too often of the fact that the enemy is extremely crafty and deceitful and a liar. Consider the following instances.

• A long-time Christian tells a new believer, an impoverished single mom of three, that she does not have to tithe, that God will understand her situation.
• An intense young man finds that running excessive distances calms him down. Soon, to get in more miles, he abandons his daily time with God, church attendance and Christian friends.
• A believer, finding that visiting family diminishes the negative feelings of depression, spends every spare moment with family, and begins neglecting spiritual things.

Prayer: Dear Father, open my eyes to see any snares the enemy may have laid in my path. Deal with any pride or defensiveness that blinds me to my faults. Forgive me for the times I trust in things and people more than in You. Grant me the courage to wait on You, with complete trust and confidence, in the hard times of life. Help me remember what You said in Hebrews 13:5:

” I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not,  [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (AMPC)

Help me be comforted and say with boldness “The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6, AMPC) Amen!