Isaiah 30:15-22

15    Therefore, the LORD God,
the holy one of Israel, says:
In return and rest you will be saved;
quietness and trust
will be your strength—
but you refused. 

¹⁶ You said,
“No! We’ll flee on horses”—
therefore, you will indeed flee—
“and we’ll ride off;
on swift steeds we will ride”—
therefore, your pursuers will be swift. 

¹⁷ One thousand will flee
at the threat of one,
and at the threat of five you will flee,
until you are left like a flagstaff
on a mountaintop,
like a flag on a hill. 

¹⁸ Nonetheless, the LORD is waiting
to be merciful to you,
and will rise up to show you compassion.
The LORD is a God of justice;
happy are all who wait for him.

19    People in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. God will certainly be merciful to you. Hearing the sound of your outcry, God will answer you.  ²⁰  Though the Lord gives you the bread of distress and the water of oppression, your teacher will no longer hide, but you will see your teacher.  ²¹  If you stray to the right or the left, you will hear a word that comes from behind you: “This is the way; walk in it.”  ²²  You will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered priestly vest, and you will scatter them like menstrual rags. “Get out,” you will say to them. 

Listening to God: You may feel that you are alone, but you are not.  Do not let the clamor of the world and the raging of your won spirit drown out the voice of my Spirit within you.  You need to listen for me the most when situations are tense and competing voices are loud.  As you begin to feel overwhelmed, take time out and let me do my work in you.  Here is my promise, and I do not lie: “in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength” (v. 15).

Journal or lift up your prayers and reflections to God.

*Our season of prayer guide comes from Joan Gray’s book, Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission and Practice.