“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 30:18
I learned something new last week. The word “longs” and “wait” are the same Hebrew word. It’s not a wait without the longing; if there is no longing, it’s simply a passage of time. While I wait on God, He taught me that He’s also waiting, longing, for something, too. He’s longing “to be gracious…he rises to show me compassion.” If he’s asking me to wait for something, you can bet there is something that the wait is for.
I can identify with the passion of impatience from my end… but to think of God’s passion– His passion his for his glory, and His passion for us– that is a humbling thought. That the God of the universe cares for me …the fact that he longs to show me compassion– that knocks me right to my knees! What an amazing God we serve! There truly is no other God like him!!
There is a song I hear on the radio nowadays, and the lyrics go something like this, “I don’t have a god on a stand.., I don’t have a god I hold in the palm of my hand… I’ve got a god who’s holding me… He’s the Lord of all the earth, maker of all things…he alone is the one true God… I’ve got the real thing, Kingdoms rise and fall, and even through it all, He remains the one true God.” Amen! That beautiful song makes me think of all the people in this world who are serving gods on stands, and believing in their man-made deities. How could God have such compassion on me, so as to rescue me from possibly also falling into that same trap? I know many who do serve gods on sticks– I know how easily I could have been doing the same. Thinking of how God rescued me from myself brings me to the cusp of tears.
“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials…” 2 Peter 2:9 (HCSB) If I need a rescue of some sort, God knows how to do it. He knows what I am made of… He knows I am made from dust (Ps. 103:14). And He is more than capable of handling the situation. He has passion– for His glory, and longs to show compassion on me. In return, I long for my life to reflect his glory, and to shed my impatient cries at his feet…and simply wait. Wait, wait, wait– for Him. It’s all about HIM. Today, I hold the treasure of your compassion in my heart.
Lord, thank you for your compassion on your children. My simple words of thanks sound woefully inadequate! Please help me to wait patiently on you.