Phillips Brooks was visited by a friend who found the typically calm pastor pacing the floor like a caged lion. He finally asked what was wrong. Brooks replied, “The trouble is I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t.” Have you ever been there? Are you there now?

This was the situation Judah faced. Unrepentant sin had invoked divine judgment. Assyria would be the means and mechanism through which the Lord would punish his people. The northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen. The same fate would soon befall the southern kingdom of Judah. Rather than coming back to God in repentance, Judah went to Egypt, hoping a political alliance would rescue them from danger. 

Isaiah 30:1-2 rebukes their foolish and futile plans: “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add to their sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharoah and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.”

Judah was in a hurry to be delivered. Charles Spurgeon said, “They were impatient because they were unbelieving.” In their unbelief, God’s people looked to the Egyptians who had enslaved them to now protect them from being enslaved by the Assyrians. Isaiah 30:7 says, “Egypt’s help is worthless and empty, therefore I have called her ‘Rahab who sits still.’” The NIV translates God’s nickname for Egypt, “Rahab the Do-Nothing.” 

However, verses 8-13 describe Judah as a rebellious people who did not want to hear the truth. Repentance could save them. Trust in God would give them strength. But they would rather flee to Egypt for safety. Thus, verse 17 says, “A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.”

• Isaiah 30:1-18 is a warning of coming judgment. 
• Isaiah 30:19-33 is a promise of future salvation. 

Isaiah 30:18 is the hinge that connects the two sections: “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” The key term is “Therefore.”

• Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you. 
• Therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. 

The repeated “therefore” emphasizes the fact that salvation will not merely follow judgment. It will flow from it. The people of God will rashly and recklessly choose to go their own way. They will suffer the consequences of their sinful ways. Therefore, God waits to be gracious and exalts himself to show mercy. Isaiah 30:18 is one of the most astonishing promises in the Bible: God is waiting to bless you! Consider the two great claims this verse makes. 

God Waits To Bless His People.

Isaiah 30:1-17 is about the sinful and stubborn people of God. Verse 18 is all about God. The verse begins with a declaration of God’s grace and mercy. 

God’s Patient Grace. Verse 18 says, “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you.” Look at this opening clause from two perspectives. 

  The Condescending Act. Verse 18 says, “The Lord waits.”

• God is from everlasting to everlasting. 
• God lives in one eternal now. 
• God holds time in his hands. 

What makes God God is that he does not have to wait on anything or anyone. Yet, the Lord waits. What a remarkable statement of divine long-suffering! The NIV softens the language: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.” The same Hebrew word used at the beginning of the verse is used at the end. There’s no reason to change the language, except for the fact that this divine condescension seems too good to be true. God is a God who waits!

The Compassionate Aim. To Lord waits for a purpose: “to be gracious to you.” Verses 1-17 make it clear that sinful people deserve to suffer the consequences of their choices. Yet God does not wait to destroy them. The Lord waits to be gracious to them. What does it mean for the Lord to be gracious? The benediction in Numbers 6:25 answers: “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” 

We lament with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” The Lord’s answer may be, “Whenever you’re ready.”You may be waiting on God only to find out that he was waiting on you the whole time. How can I access God’s patient grace? Isaiah 30:19 says, “He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.” You may still be in it because God is waiting for you to pray about it. 

God’s Exalted Mercy. Verse 18b parallels the statement about God’s patient grace: “And therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.” The word order is profound, powerful, and provocative. We think God shows mercy so that he may exalt himself. That is not what the text says. 

• God exalts himself to show his mercy. 
• He vindicates his honor through mercy. 
• He rises up in power to pour out mercy. 

“This God is unique,” said John Piper. “He exalts himself in getting down low and treating people better than they deserve.” Grace is mentioned before mercy in this verse. Theologically, mercy precedes grace and makes it possible. Mercy restrains punishment so that grace may bestow favor. It makes sense that God exalts himself to punish. It makes no sense that God exalts himself to pardon. Yet that’s who God is and what God does. 

Isaiah 55:6-7 is a great invitation: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” 

God Blesses His People Who Wait.

Waiting time on God is never wasted time. Isaiah 64:4 says, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18 states the basis and blessing of waiting on God. 

The Basis of Waiting on God. Verse 18 says, “For the Lord is a God of justice.” This clause explains the previous sentence. On the surface, it seems to be a contradiction. 

• Some view God as a vindictive overlord. 
• Others view God as an indulgent grandfather. 

The view of one excludes and precludes the other. Yet here the God who waits to be grace and exalts himself to be mercy is called a God of justice. “Justice” is divine judgment. It means that God is faithful to his covenant. The Lord God will always do what is right. The Lord will do right by punishing sin. Yet he will do so in a way that permits him to be merciful and gracious. God’s attributes are never in conflict. He is perfectly, infinitely, and simultaneously righteous and merciful. Psalm 85:10 says, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” That kiss happened at Calvary! In the bloodand righteousness of Christ, God displays his love without violating his holiness. 

Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

The Blessing of Waiting on God. Verse 18 ends with a beatitude: “Blessed are all those who wait for him.” We are all guilty sinners who deserve divine justice, not grace and mercy. Yet the Lord waits to be gracious to us and exalts himself to be merciful to us. How do we cash this check? “Blessed are all those who wait for him.” 

Wait on God exclusively. The blessings of God are reserved for those who wait on him, not them. Charles Spurgeon said, “God’s waiting people wait upon God only.”

• Wait on man, and you will be doomed. 
• Wait on God, and you will be blessed. 

Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary; and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” 

Wait on God expectantly. “Blesses are all those who wait on him” is not a future-oriented promise. It’s a real-time assurance. God is not saying, “If you hold on and hold out, I’ll bless you one of these days.” God is saying, “If you are waiting on me, congratulations! You’re already blessed!”

• Waiting on God will bring blessings. 
• Waiting on God is itself a blessing. 

To wait on God is a matter of trust, not a matter a time. You can wait patiently or impatiently. Faith is the difference. Childish faith asks, “When can I get out of this?” Childlike faith asks, “What can I get out of this?” The one who waits on God does not live in worry, doubt, or fear. He lives with great expectations, blessed assurance, and unwavering confidence. Picture two soldiers in enemy territory who are taken hostage. The soldier who does not trust his government is convinced all is lost. The soldier who trusts his government assumes a rescue mission is being planned and launched to set him free. Which soldier are you? 

Psalm 40:1-3 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”