Isaiah 30-32: What Matters Most

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'
Therefore you will flee!
You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
A thousand will flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you will all flee away,
till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill.
"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! - Isaiah 30:15-18 NIV

Hidden in these chapters of woe for all of the nations is this one truth.  The Lord longs to be gracious to us.  It has never been the desire of his heart to destroy his people, to send them into captivity, or inflict any other sort of punishment on them.  He longs to be gracious, he rises to show compassion.  But most of the time, throughout history, His people will have none of it.  His people, the ones that he longs to protect, convince themselves that they have to take matters into their own hands.  What kind of God do we serve?  He is not a small god, he is not made of wood or clay.  Instead he is the creator of wood and clay and everything else.  He holds all the power of the universe in his hands, and he longs to be gracious to us.  When it comes to what matters most to Him, it is where we put our trust in all matters.