Oh, how we hate to be kept waiting, especially by God. Why does He sometimes make us wait?

Read Isaiah 30:18 and notice that it begins with the word therefore. I've heard people say that if you examine what precedes the word therefore you'll discover what it's there for! So let's try it. In verse 15 the Lord reminded Israel that if she had turned and rested in Him, she would have been saved from her enemies. If she had been quiet and confident, she would have found sufficient strength. "But you would not," the Lord lamented, "and you said, 'No'" (vv.15-16). Instead of returning to the Lord, Israel would flee from her enemies (v.17). "Therefore," we read in verse 18, "the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you."

What was God waiting for? He was waiting for Israel to fail in her self-sufficient ways and to start depending on Him. Only then could He be gracious to her.

Let's not fear the humbling experience of reaching the end of our resources. A. B. Simpson wrote: "We find our humbling failures save us from the strength that harms." That's why God allows us to fail--that we might be saved from ourselves and experience the truth: "Blessed are all those who wait for Him" (v.18).  — Joanie Yoder