that He may have mercy upon you

Isaiah 30:18a "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious to you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you"

This verse is a source of encouragement during times of difficulty or waiting. If we think about what the implication of this promise is..it's amazing! The Lord waits for us! It's kind of mind blowing. He is the Creator of the Universe and the Giver of life, and yet there are times, when He has chosen to wait for us! He waits for us to respond to Him, to turn to Him, and even to come to our senses I'm sure at times.

It's an incredible thought that He wants to show us how much He loves us. When we try to contemplate God's love, many of us can't seem to take it in. We think of our failures, our shortcomings, and how we've let God or others down. We live with ourselves and we tend to see what we consider to be our own defects, more than we see our strengths, or our kindnesses. At times we are so absorbed by all the wrong things we see about ourselves that we have a hard time believing that God wants to bless us. Most of us would feel much of the time that punishment was much more in order than blessing.

We want God to love us, to bless us, to encourage us, but we struggle deeply, with what we feel we "deserve" or don't "deserve". We tend to think that we have to earn the blessings..that we have to be good enough, or faithful enough. We often miss the point of God's incredible and gracious love. Our blessings from God are not a result of our goodness..they are a result of His goodness.

I hope you will take that thought with you today as you go through your day. Remind yourself from time to time throughout your day that you are loved. As this truth begins to penetrate your heart, it will change you. You will begin to see yourself the way God sees you. Your reactions to problems and situations will start to change, and you will begin to live your life out of the Life of Christ that resides in you.

The Lord waits to be gracious and merciful to you. Will you accept that today?