WISDOM OF STRENGTH IN QUIETNESS

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in QUIETNESS and confidence shall be your STRENGTH” – Isaiah 30:15a

God will have His children operate in the WISDOM of STRENGTH in QUIETNESS: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in QUIETNESS and confidence shall be your STRENGTH,” but you would not” (Isa.30:15). The Living Translation says, “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In QUIETNESS and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.” In the days of Isaiah, Jerusalem was threatened by Sennacherib and his mighty Assyrian army, and Israel thought that the solution to this problem was to amass enough power to counter Assyria, through a strategic alliance with Egypt, sealed with bribes and gifts (vv. 6-7). Alas, they were wrong!

We sometimes believe that our effort, intellect, strategies, budgets, goals and actions, can fix everything, devoid of the Divine. Similarly, God was far from Judah’s thoughts as they leaned on “the arm of flesh” – their strategic alliance (2Chr.32:8). Yet, God warned: “Woe to the rebellious children...who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not by My Spirit...; who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation” (vv.1-3).

The help of Egypt was vain: “For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab-Hem-Shebeth” (v.7). This means “Rahab the Do-Nothing”! Rahab is the Hebrew word for Pride, and is sometimes used as a title for Egypt (Psa.87:4). Egypt was like a harmless dragon with big teeth but no bite. Isaiah warned that sending ambassadors with animals loaded with gifts was a waste of resources, and the “solution” would eventually collapse “like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant” (v.13). His divinely-inspired strategy was: “Return to and rest in God; be QUIET and confident in Him!”

There is a Wisdom of Quiet Confidence in God that worldly Go-getters rarely see as they become overconfident in their own abilities! The Jerusalem elite snubbed Isaiah: “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us” (vv.10-11). God was willing to save and strengthen His people, but they were unwilling (v.15). Beloved, QUIET CONFIDENCE in GOD is of greater worth than activism, agitation, and aggressiveness: “The work of righteousness will be PEACE, and the effect of righteousness, QUIETNESS and assurance forever” (Isa.32:17). Even for restless Judah, God still promised: “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you...Blessed are all those who wait for Him” (v.18).