Isaiah 30:18-21
Right Here!

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you;
     therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
     blessed are all those who wait for him.

Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

New Revised Standard Version

Isaiah understood a deep truth that had escaped most of the people in his day, and for that matter, every generation since. He summarizes that truth as he describe God waiting to shower us with grace. God is right here with us, eager to bless us, just waiting for the chance.

Waiting? Waiting on what?

Waiting on us to stop. Waiting on us to stop striving to gain what we can never achieve in our own strength or with our own wiles. Waiting on us to accept God completely.

In the verses just before this, God through Isaiah begs the people to trust God for their victory, but instead, the people set off at a gallop to win their own victory. How foolish that is for us to reject God's perfect answers in order for us to manufacture our our answers to our problems! It's foolish, but we all have done it many times. Why?

I can think of four reasons why we would reject the grace of the God who is standing right with us.

One is a lack of faith, a lack of trust in God that causes us to believe in what we can see rather than the One we cannot see yet. Ironically, as we step out on faith, Isaiah tells us we will find we can see God after all!

A second is a self-determination, the "cowboy spirit" that our society praises as how the American "West was won." Surely God is pleased when we show our resolve, the strength of our character, and put ourselves against what would strike us down -- isn't that good and right? Sadly, no. When we try to act like a hero, we usurpt God from being God. When God raised up heroes, God chose flawed people willing to be obedient. In the book of Judges, God found flawed people willing to follow and obey, like unlikely Deborah, frightened Gideon, and foolish Samson, so that God would be God.

A third is a fear of change. Stopping, opening up to God, and accepting God's grace is an immersive experience. We need to be swallowed by it, consumed by it, so that every part of us is tuned to God's music. We must surrender totally. There's a strong reaction in us that wants to hold back something from God, and we may fight for years to keep from releasing those last parts of us, but we are the ones who lose out when we fight God's grace.

The fourth is our feeling of unworthiness that convinces us that we are not worthy of God's grace. This is displayed by those who walk away from God because they are sure God can't love them. This is also seen by those who work harder than the rest to serve God, in hopes that they can make up for their unworthiness. It's the same sin either way, of allowing our selves to separate us from God.

Of course we are unworthy of God's love and blessings! That's why God calls it "grace" -- we can't earn it, we don't deserve it, but it is free if we accept it. Isaiah tells us all we have to do is wait for God to give it to us. All we have to do is to see as God reveals Himself to us. All we have to do is listen when God tells us the way. It is that profoundly simple, because God is that close to us.