Faith’s Fortitude

WHEN we are restless and troubled of heart or circumstances, well – “[He] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on [Him]” (Isa 26:3).  But, here’s the rub, we have choices, and Isa. 30:15 holds up a blessed proposition, but it also contains a dire warning:
But you would not (Isa 30:15c)

THE above is how I ended the previous comment; a cliff hanger “But you would not” as a warning that the associated promise – “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” – is not a given, but a covenantal promise. It requires something of us, a faith-rest in waiting upon the Lord – and this waiting is not passive but active. Verses 16-17 reveal a rebellious attitude that will never achieve a “quiet confidence.” But we serve a gracious God. Note the “therefore” in verse 18:

Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

See how our reading from None But the Hungary Heart below (NBTHH 12-14) explains and expands on the thought.

In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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12-14. Faith’s Fortitude

“Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you” (Isa. 30:18).

Waiting upon the Father is not a matter of longsuffering, but of expectant faith – quiet, restful, confident dependence upon One who is to be fully trusted. Often the God of circumstances must teach this waiting by placing us in situations that offer no other alternative but the wait.

“When the testing comes, does our faith prove true? Does our confidence in the Father become shaken and our hope prove to be uncertain? When the clouds have gathered and the thunder rolls and the lightning stabs through the darkness with the roar of the storm is in our ears, can we keep our eyes and thoughts off the tempest and continue in the quiet and peace of the Father’s presence?

“When the enemy of right and wrong has thrown down the gauntlet and is trampling ruthlessly upon that which affects the honor of our Lord, and when he seems about to bring ruin upon that which our Father has purposed, can we refrain from rushing in to strive with him, and wait for Him ‘in quietness and confidence,’ with a true sense both of our weakness and of His faithfulness and strength? When we have no word from the Lord except to wait and everything seems to be at a standstill, does the certainty of hope remain undimmed?” -A.H.

“When you are in faith you will find that the Lord Jesus does not remove the pressure from off you until you are asleep in it, until you are able to take it quietly. You learn His grace first, and then His mercy.”

“Faith possesses all things, and hope stretches on to the fulness of the possession, yet in no restless mood, for patience sits by the side of hope in the believer’s soul, and teaches him to wait for the glory of his Father. ‘If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.’ (Rom. 8:25).” – H.F.W.

“I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me” (Ps. 40:11)