Waiting on the Lord

Isaiah 26:7-11
(7) The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
(8) In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
(9) My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
(10) If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.
(11) O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.

This passage seems to balance the blind pacifism that some would say the gospel demands. Here we see the need to wait on the Lord. He will ultimately make the way of the righteous level. That means that things will go better for the righteous than the unrighteous.

Verse 9 is a bit convicting, isn't it? Does your soul yearn for the Lord in the night? Does your spirit earnestly seek the Lord? Mine has more lately than other times. I've been plagued with some dreams I haven't had for a long time. It's very frightening to find myself surfing porn in a dream, but it's quite a relief to wake up and find that it was just a dream. I don't want to go back to that old life and I realize that more earnest pursuit of the Lord is in order.

I find verse 10 to be rather compelling. God's glory is not revealed to the wicked when favor is continually shown to them. Rather, they need to see God's people acting rightly and be convicted about it. That seems particularly important in America right now. There is so much immorality that is justified under relativism that living as witnesses for truth seems particularly important right now.

There is a lot in Isaiah that doesn't really sink in much with me. However, passages like this hit me squarely between the eyes.