The Lord Longs to be Gracious to You

Week Fifteen

The Lord Longs to be Gracious to You

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!

O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 

Isaiah 30:15-21.

Why do we always think we can handle every situation on our own? Why do we refuse to ask God for help when we are surrounded by adversity and affliction? It is almost as if we see strength in handling our problems ourselves. And yet, we always fail. 

Sometimes we think we have it all figured out. We make choices and they seem good at the time. But how often do those choices end in disaster? How many times do the choices we make put us in an even tighter spot than we were before? We get ourselves all worked up, we think and we plot and plan. We figure and refigure, we talk our problems to death with friends, relatives, co-workers, anyone who will listen. We seek guidance from fortune tellers, psychiatrists, professional financiers, even our beauticians and barbers. 

But God’s word tells us “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” He knows that we want to be self-reliant, he knows that we want to be independent.

God knows that when we fail, when we come to the end of ourselves, when there is no where else for us to turn, we will cry out to him to help us. And you know what? When that day comes, when we finally ask for his help, he will show us compassion. 

He longs to be gracious to us. Do you hear that? He doesn’t expect it, he doesn’t shake his head and say sooner or later they’ll need me. No he longs to be gracious to us. He has so much patience and he loves us so much. He would prefer that we ask him for help before we get ourselves into a real mess, but he knows that we won’t do that. What kind of trouble were you in when you cried for help?

Pride keeps some people from ever crying out for help. Some folks never reach the end of themselves, some folks die trying to figure it all out. But that is not God’s choice for us.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.” 2 Peter 3:15.

When my marriage was failing, I talked it over with friends, I sought advice from all the wrong people and tried and tried to make things work on my own. It took me years before I finally gave up. I was so determined to make it work that I never even thought of asking God for his help. It seemed to me that he really didn’t care about the mess I was in. He had a universe to run and why would he be concerned for someone like me? But I reached the end of myself and cried out to God to help me. 

It was at that point that He could begin to make a difference in my life. It didn’t happen overnight, but it was a turning point. I think it took five years or more to get my marriage back on the right track, but God is not slow in keeping his promise.

God has a plan for each person in the world, but he waits for an invitation to become part of our lives. He looks on us with compassion and waits. How hard this must be for him. 

As a parent, I have had times when I had to stand back and watch my children make mistakes. If I had interfered they would have been resentful, that must be what it is like for God. He has given us freewill and we are permitted to make choices. He just waits for us to ask for help. That is what a loving parent does. 

God does long to be gracious to you. He wants to have you with him for eternity more than anything else. He wants to shower you with good things, he wants to bless your life. But he, above all else wants you to love him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. 

God wants to have first place in your life. He wants you to ask him before you make a move to do anything. Why? Because he wants to rule you with an iron fist? No, it is because he knows exactly what is best for each one of us. He knows the end from the beginning and everything in the middle. He wants us to trust him with our lives, our hopes and dreams, our plans for every day. 

When we come to him all through the day he knows that he has an important part in our lives. It is almost unimaginable to think that the God of the universe cares so intimately about us, but it is true. 

Think about some of the times that you have experienced God in your life. Usually in times of trial, but sometimes in the quiet peaceful moments we have known him to be there also. He wants you to invite him into all the moments of your life. 

Is there any better place to be than at the center of God’s will? We are safe there, we are loved there, we are protected there, we are directed there. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Holy God,

You are so wise and compassionate, you are so loving and good. We thank you for taking care of us and drawing us to yourself. We thank you for waiting patiently for us to finally realize that we need to ask you for help before we do anything. Thank you for helping us realize that you have our best interests in mind and help us to trust you with our very lives. We seek you today and give our selves to you. May your will be done in our lives. Because of Christ Jesus. Amen