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! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
– Isaiah 30:15-1
I've frequently gravitated to the phrase "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." I like the idea of a quiet place to worship God, a solitary place to pray, a restful trust in the Lord of all.
Too bad my life more often resembles the cowardly knights from a Monty Python movie - "Run away! Run away!" In the face of interpersonal conflict, looming deadlines, tax returns, and spiritual warfare, I'd much rather flee the struggle and do something else.
But now the time has come to stand up for the Kingdom of God to come. And it will be a revolution -- not of violence in the physical realm. From the outside it might look a lot like the saffron clad monks of Burma. Quiet protests, prayerful resistance, reverential power.
They know the truth about the Karen people, internally displaced in the jungles of eastern Burma. Facing forced labor, rape and sexual slavery, torture and maiming.
Probably a lot like those young Americans with red tape over their mouths and the word "LIFE" written there, as they stand in silent protest over the ongoing murder of the unborn children. Abortion is still killing generations here and around the world.
And the LORD longs to be gracious to us. He rises to show us compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! The words "longs" and "wait" are from the same Hebrew word meaning -- to wait for, long for, like in an ambush.
The Sovereign LORD sees the hearts of all who wait for Him and stand for His justice. Will you wait and stand with them?
Selah
