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." Sounds like an offer you can't refuse, but His own people, in spite of all the blessings and warnings, did in-fact refuse God's offer. There seems to be built into man the unquenchable desire to do things "my" way and with "my" abilities. One wonders how many failures must be endured before they finally get the message. Why can't we learn from the proverb, 'When you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got."? The first ingredient in any successful program is "repentance" - trashing my plan and turning to God's. When I trust in His divine ability to change me and not in my own futile efforts, I find rest and salvation. Built into that rest and salvation is quietness and trust. It's a "leaning not on my own understanding, but in all my ways acknowledging Him." The quietness and trust seem to grow side by side in our lives. The more we dare to trust Him the more we find our minds and spirits quieted before Him and the more we are quieted the more our level of trust increases. The strength He provides is only limited by our level of trust and God's infinite ability. My prayer is that we not miss out due to our own stubbornness, either individually or as a church.

In Quietness and In Trust Shall Be Your Strength