Isaiah 30:15
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.”
If the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results, then I am insane. And so are you.
Time and again we try to run our lives and save ourselves through our own efforts, our own plans, our own cleverness. We look within ourselves for strength and lean on man-made schemes and strategies to increase it. And it never works. We always end up more exhausted, more frustrated, more beaten down. Even if we succeed for a while, the best we get is a dose of prideful puffery before the inevitable slide into decline.
We need to see what God calls us to–return, rest, quietness, trust. Return means to turn from our self-reliance to God alone and put all our trust in him. Rest in him; find rest in him, the giver of peace. Quiet our hearts from the frantic striving and pushing and grasping we are so prone to but looking to Christ alone. Trust in God, putting all the weight of our lives down on him.
It may feel like a risk. It might feel like not doing enough. But in fact resting in God and trusting in him alone is the most sane, productive thing we can do.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
