Editor's note: Enjoy's today's devotion from Meditating God’s Way by Robert Morgan.
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In quietness and trust is your strength. — Isaiah 30:15
Never in history has so much information been at our fingertips. In several ways, this can be beneficial. One of the downsides, however, is our minds are constantly flooded with information. A twenty-four-hour news cycle, along with constant alerts to our phones, and never-ending social media posts can be overwhelming. To complicate matters, much of the news and information we receive is conflicting and it’s hard to tell truth from error. So much of the information we receive is misleading or, in some cases, not true at all. But history reveals that God’s people have always been faced with this challenge.
I recently pondered Jeremiah 23, a chapter in which the Lord condemned the false prophets who deceived the people of Judah. These bogus preachers claimed to have a message from God.
But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word?
asked verse 18 (emphasis mine). A bit later, the Lord said,
I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people. — verses 21–22, emphasis mine
I was struck by the concept of standing in the council of the Lord. As a Bible teacher, I’ve wondered what that looks like and feels like. In my mind, this is how I picture it:
Sitting at a table with my opened Bible, I see myself, as it were, approaching a vast domed archive. It’s a treasury built of the finest Makrana marble, gleaming and grand, sitting in the center of a manicured estate.
Pressing through lacquered doors, I enter the rotunda and find myself in a vast library. Thin windows of beveled glass look out onto green meadows and still waters. High above, a golden dome anchors a chandelier. Between the windows are towering shelves filled with leather volumes. The room is richly paneled in gleaming wood, and a tall desk stands at its center.
I’ve entered the world’s most perfect library, and every volume is at my disposal. But there are only sixty-six books. Climbing a ladder, I reach up and grab Genesis, or Ruth, or Psalms, or Proverbs. The prophets occupy adjacent shelves. Nearby are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Across the way are the epistles of Paul. On the next shelves are James, Jude, Hebrews, and Peter. Occupying a spot on a shelf by itself is Revelation, held upright by bookends of marble cherubim.
Grabbing one of the volumes, I take it to the desk in the center of the room. Opening the book, I begin to read, each word flaming into gold as my eyes fall upon it. I remember, then, what I saw engraved in the marble of the entranceway:
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes…
They are more precious than gold. — Psalm 19:7–8, 10
Even as my visit draws to a close, and I return the book to its shelf and leave the archives,
I don’t leave the words behind, for they’ve been transcribed onto the walls of my own internal library.
I take them with me to ponder, to picture, to personalize, to practice, to preach.
This, to me, is standing in the council of God, the Wonderful Counselor who promised,
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My loving eye on you. — Psalm 32:8
We need to be people who know how to seek out the wisdom and council of God. When you are faced with uncertainty, God’s Word is a source of stability. When you are in search of truth, the Scriptures are the answer.
Elena Chevalier is a journalist—the former copy editor of a New England newspaper—and a pastor’s wife in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She recently told me something that happened twenty years ago during a period of stubborn discouragement.
“I remember sunlight glistened off the soap bubbles as I filled the kitchen sink that Tuesday morning,” she said. “It was a glorious day outside, but my heart couldn’t relate. I scrubbed the dirty breakfast dishes and rinsed them mechanically. Tears spilled down my cheeks blurring my sight.
“For nearly two decades my husband and I had served in a large, prosperous New England church. Then a series of unfortunate events caused Wayne to resign his position as associate pastor and principal of the school our three children attended. His pastor wanted him to reconsider his resignation and stay, but we knew the differences were irreconcilable.”
The aftereffects of that decision lingered. Elena’s heart was invested in her husband’s calling, but now they felt like wanderers in the wilderness. That morning as Elena prayed over the dirty dishes, the Lord drew near. “With a sun-sparkled, soapy hand on the faucet—I can still see it now—I sensed the Father’s still, small voice speaking to me, reassuring me our lives were in His hands. If He wanted, He could easily cause someone to contact us even that very day.”
That’s just what happened.
“The letter arrived in the mail that afternoon. Goosebumps rose on my skin as my husband and I read the letter from a friend offering him a position as principal of a newly reopened school. The timing seemed so incredible. And yet, there were important concerns causing us to hesitate. Was this truly God’s perfect will for us? We decided to pray and wait on God for absolute assurance.
“I went to the Scriptures as I always do, and there I found my answer in Isaiah 30:15.
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength...’”1
Elena highlighted that verse in her heavily marked Bible, and in the margin she wrote:
Major life-changing decision to move and resume fulltime Christian service. Within our hearts is peace that passes understanding: quietness and confidence in our Father in Heaven, and in our own hearts.”
That was two decades ago, and the Bible Elena used now resides in a retirement home for old Bibles in her bookcase, replaced by a newer one. But as she reviewed the story for me, she retrieved the older Bible and turned to Isaiah 30:15. She said, “Seeing the verse highlighted in restful aqua blue in that Bible instantly brought me back to that sun glinting off the soap suds in my sink and the time our Father taught me to return my worried thoughts to Him and to rest in Him.”2
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.
Eight words. Two qualities. One result. What a great formula for decoding the events in life! That phrase says it all: In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. When we’re loud and rattled, we’re weak—which says something about the state of the world right now. An empty box rattles, and an unlatched gate beats against the post. But a silent river runs deep, and a quiet and confident person stands out like a giant sequoia among the pines.
The quiet confidence of Isaiah 30:15 can carry us through many hardships, but how did that verse come to be in the Bible in the first place? When I read a verse so lovely, I want to know its context and background. What was on the prophet’s mind when he wrote that phrase? In keeping with my approach in this book, I want to look at the tale behind the text.
Isaiah 30 was written before the Assyrian invasion. The Assyrian army was the greatest force the world had ever seen. It rumbled over the world like a steamroller and seemed unstoppable. There were wars and conflicts everywhere, with Judah caught in the middle. On their southwestern flank the Egyptian empire was threatening. To the northeast, Sennacherib cast his cruel gaze toward them.
But Sennacherib didn’t realize how dangerous it was to attack the people of God. Based on God’s covenants with Abraham and David, Judah was the world’s one and only true theocracy—a place where the God of eternity lived and ruled and reigned among His people through kings in the Davidic line. Jerusalem was the home of the temple, where God’s presence literally dwelled in the form of the shekinah glory. This was the land of the Law of God and of the prophets. Here lived the Abrahamic chain of descendancy through which the Messiah was coming into the world. This was a nation with a special covenant with God, exceptional blessings, a unique place and purpose in history. The Lord had promised to preserve and protect Israel. He had sworn to bless those who blessed Israel and curse those who cursed Israel, so long as Israel remained faithful to Him.
Yahweh had sworn Himself as their supernatural ally. In times of conflict and danger, the kings and the people of Judah were commanded to turn to the Lord and trust Him, for they were under His safekeeping. Their national cry of victory was
“The battle is the Lord’s.”
Over and again, the Israelites had been delivered by Jehovah’s mighty hand.
The Same Is True Today
The same is true for God’s children today—for those who know and love Jesus Christ. We’re under the blessings of the new covenant, and Romans 8 declares,
If God is for us, who can be against us?... in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. — verses 31, 37
The Bible says,
Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. — 1 Corinthians 15:57
The apostle John said,
This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. — 1 John 5:4
As God’s children, every problem or peril becomes an opportunity for God to work all things for our good. That’s the basis for our supernatural optimism, which the Bible calls “hope.”
Watch the Video
1. Isaiah 30:15 KJV.
2. Elena Chevalier, personal interview with and correspondence with the author.
Excerpted with permission from Meditating God’s Way by Robert J. Morgan, copyright Robert J. Morgan.
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Your Turn
We need to be people who know how to seek out the wisdom and council of God. Is that you? When you are faced with uncertainty, do you go to God’s Word to find stability? When you are in search of truth, the Scriptures are the answer. ~ Devotionals Daily