Rest & Strength

Isaiah 30:15

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.”

I know I’ve been there, done that.  I’ve fretted, feared, and fallen into despair when life isn’t treating me properly.  I’ve cried, I’ve accused, and I’ve wondered at my Father’s goodness and care toward me, when I compared his goodness and care on others, feeling as if I was coming up short.

This verse says repentance isn’t something to be feared or something we do when a whip is at our back.  It’s something that brings rest and salvation.  It’s laying down all of “chips” on our shoulders – grudges – at his feet and closing our  mouths, with hearts lifted up in trust.

In fact, when we do that, rest comes, rest that is our salvation…and yet many times…we will have none of that.

I really want to think on this verse for a while.  Because after all, isn’t quietness and rest what we all want, in a life full of busyness and chaos?

Maybe we need to repent.