Isaiah 30:15, commentary and pictures

Salvation is found in turning back to God and resting in Him, and strength is found in quiet trust in Him, yet His people refused to receive what He offered. That strength comes by calm reliance on God rather than on human power, rulers, personal ability and wisdom, good works, or anxious striving. It is entered by bringing every request to God in prayer with thanksgiving until His peace guards the heart and mind, and it rests on Christ who purchased sinners by His death, lives to intercede for them, and stands for them before the Father as Substitute and Surety. This rest is not idleness, for resting fully in Christ goes together with earnest labor for Him, and waiting on Him is itself faithful service that brings forth righteousness. Each day it means placing plans and cares in Christ's hands, waiting patiently in trial and temptation without rash self-deliverance, and moving slowly enough in decisions to pray and seek counsel so every step is certain and right.

Meaning and Ancient Refusal

In returning to God and resting in Him lies salvation, safety and rescue, and in quietness and calm trust and confidence toward Him lies strength and power. This is the counsel of the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, offering to save and strengthen His people through turning back to Him and meeting Him with quiet trust. His people would not receive this offered salvation and strength but refused it and rejected this way. They despised the plain way set before them even when it exposed their sins.

The refusal belonged to a rebellious, lying and scornful people who would not hear the law of the Lord. They told seers not to see and prophets not to prophesy right things, but to speak smooth things and deceits and what they wanted to hear. They despised His word and rejected plain testimony exposing their sins, and instead trusted in oppression and perversity and lies and depended on human counsel. Because they braced themselves against His will and way and would neither hear nor obey His voice, their refusal of His way left them facing sudden ruin, with destruction gone forth. The same word rebukes those at the heart of the work who have great light yet remain unconverted, mingling their own spirit with counsel, perverting principle, and confederating to do what God forbids, and it will be fulfilled in all professed teachers who act out these principles.

Alongside this refusal stands the promised restoration in which the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see. In that day the meek shall increase in joy, and those who erred in spirit shall come to understanding.

Receiving Strength Through Trust

Strength is found in calm trust in God rather than in worry or striving, and the strength of every soul is in God and not in man. Quiet trust gives power rather than reliance on human power or rulers, on one's own ability or wisdom, on self or on good works. Safety, strength and peace come from trusting God alone, resting in Him and waiting for His salvation amid earthly confusion, while refuge in the world will fail and its good things will pass away. His presence gives stability to His cause, which is founded on enduring principles and cannot be brought to nothing by human efforts. Such calm trust is the strength of all who give their hearts to Him, to be carried through the year.

This quiet confidence is entered by making every request known to God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, with the result that the peace of God guards the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Knowing Jesus' love gives hope and cheerfulness and keeps the soul in His love. Great blessing comes in calm, sweet meditation and quiet study while waiting upon God for the refreshing of the Holy Spirit.

That confidence rests on Christ's more-than-mother interest in those He purchased by suffering and death, whom He watches over and keeps secure under His protection. It comes from knowing that Jesus lives to make intercession, regards the one who comes to the mercy seat in faith as His client, espouses the cause as His own, and stands before the Father as Substitute and Surety. It belongs to the believing, confessing sinner who seeks the Lord with all the heart and dies to self. Such a one prays with sincere, persevering faith in Jesus' name and rests assured at the foot of the cross that the suit is gained.

The rest given is not inactivity, for resting fully in Christ goes together with earnest, active labor for Him. While action is good at times, strength is often gained by being kept in quietness. Such waiting can itself be faithful service, yielding the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Reproof and Present Application

The verse is a reproof and warning to medical workers who are not under heavenly control, who put trust in men and make flesh their arm, who exalt one doing a work God has not assigned, who brace themselves against His will and way, and who try to make His messages of reproof and warning of no effect because they will neither hear nor obey the voice of God. It rebukes men at the heart of the work who have great light but do not walk in it, men in responsible positions as counselors and teachers who take up truth without conversion of heart and practice, who keep old hereditary and cultivated character, who mingle their own spirit with counsel, who pervert principle, and who confederate to do what God expressly forbids, so that justice and mercy and love for God and man fall in the streets and equity cannot enter. This word will be fulfilled in all professed teachers who act out these principles, their eyes blinded so they cannot see, weakening His work and dishonoring heavenly truth and misrepresenting God who is insulted by disobedience. In contrast the remnant people will be purified, made white, and tried, and will see their teachers and hear behind them the word directing them to walk in the way, while destruction has gone forth upon cities and the day of the Lord is right upon the world for a rebellious lying people who will not hear the law of the Lord and who tell seers and prophets to speak smooth things and deceits.

The verse calls the church into partnership with Christ, a firm brotherhood in which God and man each have a part to act, with personal accountability to God. Returning means genuine conversion revealed in fruits, cleansing of the heart from defiling sin, freedom from old habits, jealousies, evil surmisings and evil speaking, faultfinding and criticism, selfishness and covetousness, and harmony with God through the working of the Holy Spirit, without which no soul will enter the city of the King of glory. Those who care for the sick are to have the peace of Christ in their hearts so their words and works shine as lights in the world, resting in the Lord and waiting patiently without fretting, anger, or wrath, with meekness, wisdom, and God's law in the heart. It applies to church members who keep eating injurious food and indulging fleshly appetites, sensuality, meat eating and other harmful diet, and Sodomitish impurity, which clogs the body and corrupts service to God. They must put away fleshly appetites, fast and pray, repent and forsake all uncleanness, and overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Those who have had great light and disregard it stand worse than those without such advantages, bring dishonor on God and put Christ to open shame, and will fall with the wicked at the execution of judgment with punishment proportionate to their dishonor, for not one particle of such impurity will escape the wrath of God, while only those who become saints, not sinners, will become members of the royal family and form God's kingdom in the earth made new.

The verse applies to each day by placing plans and cares in Christ's hands, with confidence in His care giving strength for that day. In temptation and discouragement, trusting Christ and waiting through a dark day brings strength to endure, and in difficulty patiently waiting on God and holding fast to faith in Christ gives strength rather than reliance on one's own ability, wisdom, or good works. Walking by the Spirit means trusting in Jesus for divine protection. In uncertainty and trial strength comes through quiet trust rather than hurried attempts at self-deliverance, waiting for God to lead and relying on Him to make a way, since rash action can weaken faith, and safety, strength and peace come from trusting and waiting for God alone while refuge in the world will fail. Quietness joined with forbearance and patience leads to victory and deliverance for those who show Christ's patience, while guarding oneself and keeping silent is the course instead of taking power into one's own hands or acting rashly, and abandoning the Lord's way for human ideas ends in sorrow.

In decisions affecting God's work, quiet confidence means going slowly enough to pray, wait, and seek sound counsel and wisdom from God so that every step is known to be certain, sure and right, resting in God and letting God rule, rather than rushing ahead in self-reliance and old methods and doing much business that afterward has to be undone. Such waiting does not lose time but can itself be faithful service yielding the peaceable fruits of righteousness.