No, Let's Use The Swift Horses!

I loved Brad's choice of scripture for the Call to Worship this morning!  I have been so thankful as of late to be able to be back to leading with him.....I really missed it.  Today was my first solo since all the trouble with my voice made me unable to sing for very long.  At our church, usually there is a time of prayer before the "special" so it is always a good time for me to talk to Jesus, ask Him to calm me so HE can give the message of the song through me.  I have always said that prayer before singing, but now that I have experienced being without the ability to sing for a time, it just reinforces to me that we ARE completely dependent on HIM.

~Isaiah 30:15-18~

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it.

This totally speaks to me of all the distractions I allow into my life and of my self-confidence, that if unrestrained, can become focused on self-reliance and not on dependence on God.

You said, "No, we will flee on our horses."

Therefore you will flee!

You said, "We will ride off on swift horses."

Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 

We always seem to think we can manage, right?  We can make this work out...we can run fast enough to get away.  But, the thing that is entangling us just gets faster at the same time.

A thousand will flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five

you will all flee away,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill."

If we continue in this way of thinking and acting, our enemies (the things that turn us away from Christ) will become more powerful.  I'm thinking this is not the way to victory.

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for Him!

I am not sure if this is the right way to interpret this, but I believe what we really need is deliverance.  We cannot elude our "enemies" in our own flesh.  We must "wait" on GOD to be delivered.  I don't think that wait is always about time....maybe sometimes :), but it is more about submission.  Submitting to the LORD will not require us to obtain the fastest horses because HE will RISE UP and show us COMPASSION.....raising us above our circumstances.

Isn't it amazing that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE would LONG

to be gracious to me?! And yet, I saw this graciousness and compassion today!