Isaiah 30:9-18
Choosing Inaction

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.

Leave this way,
     get off this path,
and stop confronting us
     with the Holy One of Israel!"

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.

It will break in pieces like pottery,
     shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
     for taking coals from a hearth
     or scooping water out of a cistern."

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!

New International Version

I am aching for a sense of inner peace and calm this week. My mind is racing between responsibilities, challenges, and potential catastrophes at work, church, and home, to where I have trouble concentrating on any one of them. My rowboat of time management tools and disciplines has been swamped in the stormy waves and is sinking fast. One part of me wants to work day and night to catch up, and another part of me wants to do nothing but sleep to escape the pressure. Logically, I know I have had more intense weeks in my life, and I survived those intact. Emotionally, I don't care what logic tells me--I just want to scream so everyone knows how frustrated I am!

So, in every public and private prayer I have said this week, I asked God for peace. I have asked to be filled with that calm assurance that God is in control. I have asked God to take this turmoil from me and guide me.

And in this prophesy given to Isaiah, God is answering, "If you'd just stand still a minute, I could!"

I don't like admitting this, but it is as if I am pulling and yelling for God to help me pull, and God asks whether I should be pulling at all. I have structured my life as a relay race, begging God to meet me on the track so I can hand off the baton, and God asks why I keep running in circles around the track. I, like Isaiah's audience, have located the fastest horse I can ride, and I don't want to hear that I shouldn't be on the horse at all.

I really don't want to admit that "quiet" is a choice I must make. I want intense, coordinated activity pushing towards resolution, but the more I push, the more daunting the problems become.

Have you ever tried to untangle a large knot of string in a rush? The task of threading the ends backward through the loops and twists requires a steady and calm hand and a patient mind, because the knot is likely to look just as messy and formidable after many minutes of painstaking effort. You simply must choose to be calm, or you will choose to throw the whole big mess away.

I am mature enough to admit I am not the contractor for the construction project of my life, but I still want to pretend I'm a diligent craftsman hard at work. I want to throw all my energy and focus on the creation of what God has designed me to be, and I want to see progress every week towards making that design a reality.

But this week, I can understand that I am a knot. My frenetic remedies have only pinched the knotted threads tighter and pulled the loose ends out of God's hands, and I have twisted and squirmed furiously while pleading to be kept still.

I need to stop twisting. I need to give up on how I want my knot to be untangled, and I need to trust that God knows better than I do. Like Isaiah's listeners, I need to stop telling the prophets what visions they should see.

I simply need to wait. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord!