The Lord Waits to be Gracious

Saturday, August 22, 1988
Isa 30:18-26 NIV

18 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! 19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!" 23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Though the people of God continually rebelled against the Lord and His rule over them, what did the Lord long to do for them? Why? (v.18)
2) What was the Lord's promise to His willful children and how would He respond to them in their trouble? (v.19)
3) What had the Lord given His rebellious people and how would He provide for them despite His judgments against them? (v.20-21)
4) What did the Lord expect His people to do in response to His mercy? (v.22)
5) How else would the Lord demonstrate His great compassion for His people? (v.23-24)
6) What would happen in the "day of great slaughter" and when "the LORD binds" up the wounds of His afflicted people? (v.25-26)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) In what ways have you rebelled against the Lord? 
8) How will you restore right relationship with Him?

LIFE LESSONS
9) Despite His chastening, the Lord longs to be gracious to His rebellious people.