What’s The Problem?
Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him. Isaiah 30:18
Longs – The Hebrew word chakah is a verb that expresses a state of expectant presence. It’s hard to capture in English. It’s like that sense of anticipation that children have before Christmas, or the delightful expectation that you might feel before a long-awaited vacation. There is a particular emotion that accompanies this condition; a yearning for completion. Did you know that God can hardly wait to pour His grace and compassion on you?
So, what’s the problem? If God intensely desires to fill your life with peace (shalom), why doesn’t He? He’s the sovereign Master of the universe. Who’s going to stop Him? If no plan of His can be thwarted, and He is filled with chakah toward us, then why don’t we experience this wonderful existence? The answer is found at the end of this verse. God’s longing finds its completion in our longing. Blessed is the one whose state of mind matches the mind of the Creator because, in that state, God fills the empty bucket. God waits for us.
This is not a matter of faith. Too often we think that God doesn’t act in our lives because we don’t have enough faith. We think of faith as inner assurance or feelings of confidence (thank you, Melanchthon!). We see passages in Scripture translated that way (consider Hebrews 11). The result is heart-wrenching disappointment. We just can’t get the right mental or emotional formula, so God doesn’t do what we so desperately want Him to do. It’s as though we think that faith is up to us. Well, it’s time to correct that damaging mistake. When the man with the epileptic son said, “I believe. Help my unbelief,” he expressed the true character of faith. He desperately wanted to see his son healed, but he knew that he lacked the inner constitution to do anything about it. Jesus healed the son anyway. The healing did not depend on the father’s inner resolve. It depended entirely on Jesus’ grace.
So, God’s action in our lives does not depend on our feelings. We don’t need an extra-strength faith pill. We need longing toward Him. We need chakah too. What does that mean? Well, God’s chakah is described by a willingness to do whatever is required to bring redemption and rescue to us, including sacrificial death. If we convert that into human behavior, our chakah is the willingness to do whatever is required to be obedient to His commands, including dying, in order to honor and glorify Him. Then our longing matches His longing. The combination is potent, so potent that nothing will stop God from pouring His grace out on those who share the same desire.
Do you want God to shower you with grace? The answer is found in this question: Are you willing to do anything to please Him?
Topical Index: The Will of God
