This is the way; walk in it

     O 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. 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. 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.'                  Isaiah 30:19~21




This is one juicy passage! "Weep no more...gracious...ears will hear," and the best part: "As soon as He hears, He will answer you." Awesome! But, it doesn't seem like He answers me as soon as I cry for help. Huh?! What do we do with passages like this, that don't seem to match up with life's realities? In fact, if you look closely at the Lord's message to Israel, through His prophet Isaiah, you'll see that the Lord can be the source of adversity and affliction.


Here is my most humble commentating on what is currently one of my favorite passages. In its context, this message is directed to a disobedient Israel and the Lord has promised that after His discipline concludes, His blessing will be restored. So, they are being told directly that their adversities and affliction are coming from the Lord-discipline. You know, Israel is not the only disobedient child of God. And so many times, I don't think we recognize God's discipline upon us. Not all affliction is God-induced, of course. But on the whole, I think we fail to view His discipline as His discipline. Instead, we take it at face value as affliction, then when our prayers don't make it go away, we think He hasn't answered.


See I think there's a big connection between "cry for help," in verse 19 and verse 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.'" When we cry for help, and we're in the midst of God's discipline, we are going to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in us telling us the way to walk. That's His answer. What gets us all huffy is when we're not hearing our own desires and expectations from His answer.


His grace, as verse 19 tells us, is being poured out by His attentive ear, His answers, and frankly Him not obliterating us! As a people group, I think we live in a state of entitlement. He might be God, but we expect Him to behave for us. Grace! Grace! God's Grace! That is why He hears, why He answers, and definitely how He disciplines.


Let's look a little further. Verse 22, although slightly disgusting, says, "Then you will defile 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!'" He is entitled to expect certain things, and what this tells us is that after we've been instructed the way to go and to walk in, He expects us to heed to the discipline-throw our old way of doing things away like a, well, you know-the disgusting part!


God's discipline is purposeful, not vindictive. I want you to see, so let's venture to the verse just before this passage. Verse 18 tells us, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" Beautiful! His graciousness is the only way we make it through His justice. We must begin to examine our affliction and adversity to see whether its roots are in Godly discipline. If so, listen closely for that voice behind you telling you the way to go!