In Quietness and Trust

I stumbled upon a verse last night, while researching, and it struck me, since I don't really remember ever reading it before.

It's Isaiah 30:15, which reads,

"For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength..."(NASB)

The last phrase stood out to me, in particular, though.

"In quietness and trust is your strength"

The ESV reads, "In quietness and trust shall be your strength"

My strength - our strength - doesn't come from how much we can accomplish on our own. It comes from quieting our souls before the Lord, trusting completely in His sovereign hand, in His loving heart.

Now, I don't know about you, but one thing I hate almost more than anything else is inaction, especially forced inaction.

I abhor feeling useless, unneeded, and as though there is nothing for me to do. Ask anyone, I show up places, and within three minutes I am asking 'What can I do? What do you need? Give me a job to do.'. And not even because I'm always just that willing to serve, but I hate just sitting there doing nothing.

It drives me crazy.

Apart from the specific times in which I have either set aside time to rest, or when I have been forced to take time to rest, I cannot stand just sitting by, doing not a blessed thing.

And to come across this verse, in which God says that everything I do, all my hurrying and rushing and working, and "move, God, move!" isn't even strength...blew me away, but I can see why it would be so.

The world measures strength as a matter of physical ability, mental achievement, or difficulties overcome. The emphasis is placed solely on your own ability.

And God says, "no".

True strength isn't outward, isn't easy. It is doing the one thing you find so difficult, which is doing nothing - relinquishing control of your own life, and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord, all the while trusting that He will do what He has promised. He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion.

It's not puzzling over things, or working them all out in my head. It's not trying harder, in my own strength. It's not micromanaging, over analyzing, or "God helps those who help themselves". It's not striking out on my own. It's not any or all of those.

It is simply waiting quietly, trustingly. It is being still and seeing the salvation of the Lord. It is remembering that the Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.

That is true strength.

That is what I cannot learn enough, yet find so hard to keep in mind.

To wait patiently on God, in quietness and trust.

In quietness and trust.