For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling. Isaiah 30:15 (ESV)
This invitation from God is at the halfway point of a chapter concerned with God’s wayward children in Judah during the time of the divided kingdom of Israel. They were facing a military threat from Assyria, who had recently conquered their northern neighbors. Judah hadn’t been looking to God for solutions, and for the first fourteen verses of the chapter He calls them out and warns them about their alliances with lesser gods.
Into that backdrop, God continues to pursue them with the invitation in today’s verse. He pursues and invites us, even when we turn our backs to Him like the ancient Judeans did.
Take a minute and read this verse aloud. But first, imagine it being spoken with the tone of a grief-filled parent, desperately longing to get the attention of a wayward child. Read it aloud in that tone. Think of the desire of the speaker to protect, to spare the child from pain. That is the heart of God toward you as He invites you to return and rest in Him.
The Hebrew word translated “returning” in Isaiah 30:15 reveals two beautiful pictures. The word is shuba, a noun form used just this once in the Bible. Its root word sub, translated as “turn, return or come back” is used more than a thousand times. The word shuba has the sense of “retirement or withdrawal, as from war,” according to Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon paints another picture: “a returning to one’s place of residence.”
Have you ever thought of coming to the Lord as coming home after engaging in battle? Or as coming back to the place you live? What a restful, comforting image! Our day-to-day lives can sometimes feel like we are soldiers in a battle-filled land. We can come home to God, and He is responsive to our return to Him. He will have compassion on us, heal us, come to us faithfully, and is waiting to be known intimately.
These are just some of the truths you will encounter in my Bible study Return and Rest: A Study in Isaiah 30. Hop on over to the Bible Study page and check it out.