In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)

The nation of Israel in Isaiah’s day wanted the good life. So they made big plans and developed friendships with other countries to help them get ahead (Isaiah 30: 2). But it wasn’t long before the wheels came off those efforts, and not just because of bad plans or foolish friendships. The real issue was that they were ignoring God and his plans for them.

It doesn’t occur to some Christian couples to submit their plans to God. They make purchases, choose jobs or make time commitments without ever consulting the Lord. They may figure that as long as a decision isn’t flat-out wicked, God leaves it up to them. But that’s not how a relationship with God works.

God calls such people “obstinate” (Isaiah 30:1). Plans made without Him and alliances formed to replace Him are symptoms of hard hearts and stiff necks. When turmoil finally erupts in marriages, families or churches, the people involved are likely to turn on each other or hatch still more prayerless plans and relationships.

Verses 16-17 tells us we can’t outrun God. If we keep running from him we will, in the end, be left forlorn and defeated.

God requires two responses when people’s stubbornness has gotten them into trouble: repentance and rest. Repentance in God means turning from our sinful behavior, rest means learning to wait patiently until God acts. Resting in God’s means trusting him to do for us what we should not be doing for ourselves.

Amazingly, even when his people have been obstinate, God wants to be good to them. Verse 18 says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.” He does that by giving us a kind of internal GPS (global positioning system), whispering to us the direction we should take at each of life’s crossroads. God also is good to us by blessing what we do, like sending the Israelites rain for their crops and enriching their harvest (v23). Perhaps chief among our blessings is fearlessness in facing the future. Verse 29 says that when God’s terrible day of judgment comes, those who have relied on repentance and are resting in Him will sing – their hearts will rejoice!

LET’S TALK

1. When we see plans falling apart in our marriage, why is it hard for us to practice “repentance and rest”?
2. How do we typically try to run away from trouble? What are the results?
3. In what ways do we currently need the Lord’s compassion and grace in our home?
4. What would it mean to have God’s voice quietly guiding us or his rain watering our efforts?

Hope this devotion will help us to stop and introspect our marriages to see which areas we need “repentance and rest” and “quietness and trust” to see great things happening in and through our marriage.