Looking for some simple Bible devotions? Verse reflections like this are by everyday Christian writers—real people just like you! They help give us reasons why the Bible is relevant for everyday life, and how we can connect with God each day.
God Waits for Us
How should we approach our relationship with God? How do we know what he wants? How do we know if we are doing it right? The answers to these questions can feel out of reach, but the Bible helps us see that God desires relationship with us, and he is patient with us as we learn what that looks like.
Check out today’s verse reflection by Maggie Fields, as she unpacks a verse from Isaiah, and shares how God waits for us even when we don’t feel we have the answers to these questions.
Scripture: Isaiah 30:18
“Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
Written by Maggie Fields
Growing up, I believed that my relationship with God was dependent on me, and what I did or didn’t do. When I chose my own way over God’s, I not only felt the separation that comes with that, but I felt a complete and utter breaking of my relationship with God. My natural inclination was to pretend I had it all together, to try to fight my way back into right standing, and to bring about my own redemption by my own power.
Time and time again, God has shown me that I do not have to make our relationship work on my own. But it wasn’t until recently that I began to understand what God actually desires from me in our relationship.
In Isaiah 30, Israel is choosing anything and everything but God: enemy alliances, temporary wealth, and false hope—whatever they perceive will keep them safe, prosperous, and comfortable. But all this striving amounts to nothing, as God promises the consequences of their sin will come crashing down around them (v. 13).
“Yet,” says God to his children, after all their running and rejecting, “the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (v. 18)
Why It Matters
When you stray from God and live in your own strength, Isaiah reminds us that God stays and God waits. He desires your return. He asks you to choose him and to learn to rest in him.
The salvation God offers is “repentance and rest.” The strength he gives is “quietness and trust” (v.15). Not only does he wait for your return to show you compassion; he calls you blessed when you wait for his restoration!
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