Tuesday Prayer Room – 9am
“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance,[a] but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,
everyone comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the flying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
“Rahab who sits still.”
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.[b]
For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in oppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
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, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
Isaiah 30:1-18
PRAYER GUIDE
God is a waiting God. In this passage, God is waiting to be gracious to Israel. He must wait because they persist in placing their trust in things that are not Him. They persist in looking to idols. In this case, to Egypt and Pharaoh’s protection. The people of God feel vulnerable and they look around them to find someone in whom they can trust. And they see Pharoah with the eyes of their flesh. And they make an alliance, but not by God’s Spirit. They carry out a plan, but not God’s plan. Their alliance in Egypt is ironically the very thing that prevents God from showing up on their behalf. It is the thing that makes Him wait to be gracious to them.
Israel places their trust in horses also. Horses were the standard military technology of their day. “We are safe,” Israel thought, “because we have horses. We can flee on the horses.” God says, “therefore your pursuers will be swift.”
We also, the people of God in 21st Century post-Christian New England, are very tempted to place our trust in things other than God Himself. In a time of spiritual decline, with the trappings of Christendom falling away, many of us look to the possibility of political power as a way to regain our safety. It will not do. We are tempted to look to the latest strategies or technologies to preserve us and make us strong. It is all as useless as it was in the time of Israel.
Meanwhile, God is waiting to show us his mercy. He is waiting to rise up and show us compassion. What is he waiting for?
He is waiting for us to turn to Him alone and to wait on him. To rely upon Him only. To relinquish all our substitutes. In an election year, this includes, by the way, any human candidate for office. We should all vote, but as the people of God we must not place our ultimate trust in any human ruler.
Waiting on God is the most important activity the people of God can engage in. When we begin waiting for God, waiting on God, God stops waiting and begins to act on our behalf. As it says in Isaiah 64:4, “From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.” And again in Isaiah 40:31 – “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.”
PRAYER PROMPTS
- What have you placed your trust in that is not God? Let’s repent.
- Where have we as God’s church placed our trust in things not God. Let’s repent on the church’s behalf.
- Where do you need to add space in your life to wait upon God?
- Let’s repent on behalf of the church for making alliances with modern-day ‘Egypt’ or trusting in the protection of modern-day ‘Pharaoh.’ Pray for the church to renounce all unholy alliances and turn to the Lord.
- Pray for the church, starting with ourselves, to wait on God.
- Pray for the Lord to rise to show mercy and compassion to his people and to establish and advance his Kingdom in our time, in our region.
In Our Time 