I’ve shared previously about how God drew me to Isaiah 30 in 2014. I have returned to this passage again and again over the years. Studying this chapter has transformed me in many ways.
Today I want to share three of the most meaningful.
First, studying Isaiah 30 revealed the gracious heart of God—He is patient and waiting and willing to give even the most wayward children direction.
Perhaps like me, you have come away from reading parts of the Old Testament, especially the prophets, with a view that frames God as an angry, harsh taskmaster. For years, I viewed God in the Old Testament this way. I found God in the New Testament to be kinder and more approachable. So, I often read the Old Testament reluctantly, in a surface-level way. It is fair to say there was anxiety. Would God suddenly reject and punish me for misbehavior like He did Israel? My misunderstanding of God’s consistent nature robbed me of trust in Him.
Reading, re-reading, and studying Isaiah 30 led me to dive deeper into Old Testament history and prophecy. Through it, God weaved together threads of His story so that I began to see Him not as harsh and distant, but as consistently loving, patient, and completely just.
Taking the time to understand context and history changed how I viewed God’s character and personality. It aligned me to the truth that He is an unchangeable, merciful, righteous and trustworthy God. Studying Isaiah 30 drew me into deeper trust in God.
Second, I learned more about the grace of the gospel from Isaiah 30. What I learned in this chapter is more about the gospel truth that we don’t have to get our act together and rid ourselves of all our junk before we can expect to hear God’s voice of love and direction. Nor do we have to get our act together before we experience His presence. Check out Isaiah 30:20-22 and notice the order of these two things.
It can be very easy to get tangled up in believing you have to be good enough to earn His favor, His presence, His guidance. But that is not the good news of Jesus Christ. That is not the grace of God revealed in the Old Testament either. He is aware of our flaws, our failings, and our fragile hearts. He reaches out to us even when we are running the other direction. The gospel of grace is all over Isaiah 30, but I had to spend time in study and meditation to see these truths.
Third, my journey with this passage and its promises has revealed to me the enduring faithfulness of God in a personal way. He isn’t just faithful in the centuries and millennia of history. He is faithful in the details and decades of our day-in-day-out lives.
In the summer of 2014 I was following God into unknown territory. As a leader in Classical Conversations (CC) in my part of the state, it was my job to help grow our homeschooling communities and lead a large area conference. I was uncertain, overwhelmed, and struggled to see fruit from the efforts I was making.
One afternoon, God led me to Isaiah 30:23: “And he will give the rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous.” I wrote in my journal that day: “Harvest is coming. It will be rich. The seeds I am sowing will be a bountiful, fruitful outcome.” I sensed this as a promise not only for the conference I was pulling together, but for my own children and our homeschooling path.
In 2023, my first son graduated after twelve years of homeschooling with CC. As I reflected on the journey over the years, I recognized the incredible fruit God had brought not just within our family, but from all those seeds sown in the earliest years: New communities had been birthed, many families had been impacted, and God had indeed brought a rich harvest. I was humbled. His words are faithful and true.
God’s prophecies and promises are real and true, and we can trust Him with our futures.
There are many more lessons in this chapter. Every time we invest in studying the Word of God, He reveals more of Himself to us. I long for you to experience the joy of discovering more of Him. Study His Word and let the Holy Spirit show you how deeply you are loved and pursued by our gracious God.
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