In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength

Isaiah 30:1-17

Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.

to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.

For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.

Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift!

Why?

Woe to the obstinate children, for they do their plan and go down to Egypt without consulting the Lord. They do their way without consulting the way of the Lord, so their deeds bring them to disgrace.

The rebellious people like deceitful children, unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction, like to hear pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Many people in this world like it.

My salvation is in repentance and rest, my strength is in quietness and trust in the Lord.

How?

May my mind and my heart focus on the Lord and take repentance every day and rest in the Lord!