In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. —Isaiah 30:15, KJV
There is a much deeper level of worship, one in which we are unable to express ourselves verbally or nonverbally—where we are utterly passive. The highest and most intense worship takes place when we can do nothing but be amazed, when we are rendered helpless and speechless with wonder and gratitude, when we just sit back and watch God work. This is what Isaiah is talking about in this verse.
How many people are utterly frustrated? They have tried everything, and the result has only been fatigue. A minister once said to me, “I had to ask for a sabbatical. I’m burned out.”
When we don’t wait on God and are always trying to do things ourselves, the result is endless turmoil. But if we really want assurance of salvation, God will knock everything out from under us until we trust Him alone.
To rest in God means we leave everything to Him. We leave it to Him to put us in the right place at the right time and with the right people. In so doing, we will not experience fatigue, because we get our approval from the blood of Christ, not from our works, and because we live by the authority of the Spirit of Christ.
The result is that we live and worship in a state of amazement, awe, and admiration: which is the second principle I want us to see from Isaiah 30:15. We have quietness over the most difficult situations and over our deepest fears. For God says, “Leave it to Me.” We lose the desire to get even with those who have hurt us, and we feel little need to prove ourselves.
Real worship is directed toward the One who doesn’t want anything from us for what He has done for us. There are no strings attached. God only wants us to trust Him. He wants us to experience the joy of doing nothing but resting in the fact that He loves us. God wants us just to look to Him and say, “Lord, I don’t know how much I love You. But I know how much You love me.” Rest in that, and let God love you. Then you will stand in awe.
Excerpted from Worshipping God (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).
