Isaiah 30: Waiting to Show Mercy

All right, let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah, chapter 30, isaiah, chapter 30.

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

If you're new, with us visiting or perhaps just coming in, we're going through the book of Isaiah as a study on Sunday mornings and we've moved our way into chapter 30 by this time.

The 1930s France built a fortification along their border with Germany, called the Maginot Line.

It was named after André Maginot, who was the Minister of War for France, and it was designed to prevent another disaster of invasion that happened like it did in France in World War I, of invasion that happened like it did in France in World War I.

The Maginot Line was 280 miles long of bunkers and gun batteries and reinforced concrete structures.

It was a marvel of its time.

The French believed that this defensive line would act as a deterrent to any forces to come and to attack their border, or would at least slow them down enough to be able to muster the forces to give a response.

They thought that this Maginot Line would prove to be successful and they put a lot of trust, a lot of money into it.

But it failed spectacularly when World War II happened, instead of attacking this heavily fortified 200 plus mile border, germany bypassed the line completely and went through Belgium and took over France, and that rapid and unexpected maneuver by them led to the downfall of France very quickly and to the British forces having to be rescued off of Dunkirk.

The failure of this Maginot Line and the trust that the French people and the Allies put into it stands as a symbol of misplaced trust, of the dangers of false security and of the ineffectiveness of looking to one single solution to fix our problems.

In Isaiah, chapter 30, we find the leaders and the people of Judah overcome with a very difficult problem, with a very difficult problem.

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

The kingdom of Assyria has swept down from the north and has destroyed all of the countries around them, has taken away captive the 10 tribes of Israel, has defeated every fortified city in Judah apart from Jerusalem itself.

There seemed to be little hope and they had four options in front of them.

One option was simply to surrender.

But they had been maneuvering behind the scenes and the Assyrians knew that.

And if they simply gave up, that would mean that they would open themselves up to all the treachery and tyranny that war brings.

They could also resist as long as possible.

The people of Assyria, the warriors, were surrounding them in a siege and they could just wait it out and perhaps wear Assyria down, and of course that would mean a lot of death, starvation inside the city, as the resources were gone.

But could they survive?

They could, thirdly, look for help from some outside power to stand with them in some alliance and coalition.

But what cost would that bring?

Or, fourth, they could look to God in trust, and so their options boiled down to just a few.

They could surrender, they could try to manipulate the circumstances, or they could trust in the living God to bring them through.

Just like France relied upon the Maginot Line, believing it would shield them from the aggression of Germany, and then finding out Germany bypassed all of their plans, left them vulnerable and swiftly to defeat.

Here the leaders of Judah have put everything in their confidence in Egypt, as they made an ally of Egypt to try to protect them from Assyria.

This Maginot line and Judah's coalition with Egypt at the time seemed to be very, very reasonable.

It seemed to be a secure defense.

It seemed to be the right way to go.

But both of them were disastrous.

They proved unable to help them when the thing they needed most was help.

Their reliance upon this led to nothing but catastrophic circumstances and outcomes.

What happens when life throws us all of its difficulties and hardships and challenges?

What kind of options do we have?

Do we surrender to the problems without a fight?

Do we try to hold up inside the walls and just hope it eventually goes away?

Do we try to work out all the things that we think are the best?

Or do we give ourselves over to God in his word, to his presence and to his direction and plan and purposes and trust him in the midst of this?

As humans, we're very, very prone to try to fix it as best we can, to look to the resources around us or perhaps others might be able to give us and to find those limitations met in their abilities, and we cry out to one another don't just stand there, do something.

And we feel compelled.

To one another don't just stand there, do something, and we feel compelled to fix it.

However, we often find ourselves reaching out to places that are of no help at all.

Now, this passage of Scripture will reveal to us the folly of misplaced trust, but it does something far bigger than that.

It also reveals to us the character of God and of his demonstrating willingness to forgive and to restore those who come to him, no matter how wretchedly rebellious they've been.

It's a remarkable passage of scripture and as we work through this chapter you'll see the movement of folly and false trust, but also the wonderful focus of God in restoring sinners to himself.

In the first seven verses I want to introduce you to a rebellious people.

A rebellious people, and the first verse introduces us with another one of the woes in these few chapters here.

Woe to the rebellious children.

This is the Lord's declaration.

Now, at first we might think of that like we would if we were parents of children who are full of trouble and resisting our guidance and are living a life that's contrary to our desires, and we would cry out in agony over that.

But this is something bigger than that.

When God calls the people here rebellious children, he is bringing into play some statements from the law of Moses, particularly Deuteronomy, chapter 21, in which there's a scenario of parents taking a rebellious, stubborn son to the elders at the city gate and taking them into a court of judgment and talking about their abject resistance and rebellion against their parents and against the word of God, and that after a time of consideration, a judgment would be made that this child, this son, was so rebellious that they forfeited the right of life and execution.

Deuteronomy 21 · chapter mention

And what God is declaring here about these people is that their sin was so egregious that it warranted the death penalty, that they had acted with such rebellion that they really had no right to even exist on earth.

Isaiah doesn't equivocate at all here.

Equivocate at all here.

His indictment to them should have struck fear into their heart and moved them to an awareness of themselves that would lead to repentance.

However, all it did was provoke them to more anger and led to their death.

His specific charges get even more troubling.

So let's unpack these few verses here by seeing these rebellious children, by, first of all, the rebellious refusal of God's guidance.

Take a look at verse two and three.

Well, one and two, rather.

They carry out a plan, but not mine.

They make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin upon sin.

Without asking my advice, they go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.

These rebellious ones had so rejected God's plans and purposes and person that they felt like the only option that they had was to run to Egypt for help.

And God addresses that rebellion in their defiance against him and their unwillingness to consult him and their desire to seek anything apart from him in order to gain a victory.

And this section paints a vivid warning of the tendency to stray away from God's path, to trust worldly solutions and, like these people, too often we run into decisions without at all thinking about God's wisdom, god's word, god's advice.

There's loads of scriptures that tell us that there is a downfall in trusting ourselves and yet safety in trusting God.

The next chapter we'll look at soon.

In Isaiah 31 says woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who do not look to the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah spoke to the same people Cursed is the one who trusts in man, but blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.

And then in Psalm 121, my eyes are lifted up to the mountains when does my help come from?

And he answers his own question my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

So these rebellious people are evidencing the rebellion, first of all by rejecting God's plan, but it's also seen in what they do.

They make this rebellious reliance on Egypt and instead of trusting God for protection and provision, these stubborn and rebellious children turn there, to Egypt for help.

And look what they do.

They send ambassadors to seek help from Egypt Without seeking my advice.

They set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and to take refuge in Egypt's shadow, and Isaiah denounces that as sin adding to sin.

And in verse 4, though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Haines, everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot help.

What have they done?

They've sent envoys down to the major cities of Egypt, to where the power centers lie, and it tells us that they've brought money with them in order to pay bribes or tribute to Egypt to try to solicit their help.

Take a look at verse 6.

A pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev.

Through a land of trouble and distress, of lion, lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent.

They carry their wealth on the back of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a people who will not help.

Okay, they've taken all of their resources and they've gone to the people of Egypt and said here is our money, here is our wealth.

Please take these things and we will give you more if you will help us.

And they traversed through the deserts, through all the challenges that that was in order to gain some security of help in a time of trouble.

This is one of the saddest displays in all of Scripture, because what you see is think about it for just a second a complete reversal of the exodus out of Egypt.

They've denied the heritage and the love of God of the exodus out of Egypt.

They've denied the heritage and the love of God and they've re-entered Egypt and taken their wealth and given it back to Egypt.

The exact opposite of what the exodus was, where God brought them out of Egypt with the wealth of Egypt into the land of promise and hope.

But they've rejected the love of God and they desired to weave together an unholy alliance with the pagan people.

And I'm sure, after all the contracts were signed, they all sort of slapped each other on the back and said let's have a celebratory state dinner and let's enjoy and let's lift up our drinks in tribute to this great coalition that we've built.

God warns them that it's going to come to ruin, and he does so with one word, verse seven Egypt's help is completely worthless.

Egypt's help is completely worthless.

Therefore, I will call her Rahab, who just sits Now.

We were introduced to Rahab a little bit ago.

It's translated Leviathan in other places.

What is Rahab?

What is Leviathan?

It is this mythical monster of chaos, this multi-headed beast, the side of which would cause our hearts to melt in an instant, so fearsome it is, and so Egypt is likened to this mythical dragon, if you will, this mighty beast that is more powerful than any human could ever be or any gathering of humans could ever overcome.

This is Egypt, and so God calls Egypt Rahab, the mythical dragon of chaos that does nothing.

This is the ferocious monster that sits on its hands.

You will not get any help.

No matter how mighty it looks, no matter how ferocious it seems, no matter how powerful you think it could be, it's not going to help you.

These rebellious people need to learn a lesson, but the lesson they need to learn.

They've been long, long long rejecting.

In verses 8 to 17,.

Take us past a description of these rebellious people who leave aside God's plan and make alliances to show us how long they've been down this reckless path and that's our second point the reckless path.

Verses 8 to 17, give us a background of why they're going to Egypt instead of trusting the living God, and verses 8 to 11 tell us about their rejection of God's truth.

God tells Isaiah go, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll.

It'll be for the future, forever and ever.

They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not want to listen to the Lord's instructions.

And those three descriptors are followed by four demands that the people make.

Look at what it says there.

They say to the seers do not see.

And to the prophets do not prophesy the truth to us.

Tell us flattering things, prophesy illusions.

Get out of the way, leave the pathway, rid us of the Holy One of Israel.

Well, the first thing that they insist upon is that the prophets do not see, and basically what they're saying is we don't want to know any more about God.

Don't give us anything that might reveal more about him.

The second thing that they ask for is for them to be given things that flatter them, that tickle their ears, that are pleasing to them, that are conditioned toward their favor and their bias.

They don't want God's word to speak into their life.

They want a message that will make them feel better about their life.

Thirdly, they don't want the truth at all.

Do not prophesy to us the truth.

Speak to us of smooth things.

Luther translated this verse preach soft things to us.

They wanted the half truth of God's promise, then no truth about his judgment, and then, fourth of all, their demand get out of the way, leave the pathway, rid us of the Holy One of Israel.

Now, the prophets would often sit in court with the rulers, and they would be there as part of the council of wisdom that would help the rulers of Judah and Israel to make the decisions that they needed to make.

And what's happening here is that the man of God, isaiah, is being ousted out of the council of the king.

Now.

The king was required to write out his own copy of the law.

It was to meditate upon it and to act out of it.

And now the king is saying here I don't even want the prophet to be there because I don't want anything that represents God to be in my presence.

I want no reminder of him, not even you being near me, isaiah, not even you be near me, isaiah.

And so God tells him to make a placard, to put a sign up, and said this is a rebellious people, these are a stubborn people, these are people that don't want to obey the Lord, and I'm sure Isaiah was walking around the cities of the streets of Jerusalem, just like this.

You know, you know the guy that's in Times Square.

You know it says repent, right?

Yeah well, isaiah started that and it was a warning to them, because it was a reflection of what their hearts were and they couldn't stand it.

Christopher Leish, in his book the Culture of Narcissism, said that our modern society fosters self-absorption and a focus on personal gratification, and we're all about what makes us feel good.

We're all about ourselves in every way.

And when we don't find the fulfillment that that self-gratification that we pursue in self-gratification, we end up going to therapy and we look for help to cope.

We go from comfortably numb to neurotic, but never living out the fulfillment of the fullness of life that God intended for us as his creation.

And in this shift of our culture, we've rejected God, we've rejected his moral obligations, even in society itself.

And here the people of Israel are running headlong down that same pathway, prioritizing their own desires, rejecting their communal and moral responsibilities before God, rejecting God's word at all and even not wanting his people and his representatives to be in their presence.

And verses 12 to 17 tell us more about that.

This reckless path is also full of a resistance to repent.

Verse 12, the Holy One of Israel says because you've rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit and have depended on them, this iniquity of yours will be like a crumbling gap, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come in an instant, suddenly.

And look at verse 15.

We'll get back to some of those images in a moment.

But verse 15, the Lord, god, the Holy One of Israel, has said you will be delivered by returning and resting.

Your strength will lie in quiet confidence.

But you are not willing.

You said no.

Why is this past so reckless?

Because they've completely rejected the promises of God and they are refusing to repent of their reckless life and behavior and direction.

And here God is, if you will imagine this caravan of representatives of the court of Jerusalem making its way down to Egypt and God is calling out to them in the middle of the desert as they've made their way down through there on their pathway to Egypt, made their way down through there on their pathway to Egypt, and he's saying turn it around, turn the caravan around, bring all of yourselves back and you'll find rest and you'll be able to sit in quiet confidence instead of the fear that's gripping you right now.

And they said no, no.

And once again this image of Egypt and the Exodus comes into play here.

Come back to the promised land, come back to the God who promises you the land.

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

We're going to escape.

We've got fast horses, we will be able to get away from our troubles.

And God says to them you're going to face tragedy Verse 13.

You're going to face tragedy, verse 13,.

Your collapse will be like a wall bulging out.

It's just there.

It's stable one minute and it's rubble the next.

That's going to be your future.

You are on the very brink of falling because of your misplaced trust and your rejection of the living God.

You're going to be verse 14, like a shattered piece of pottery that's going to be so broken that it can't be used for anything.

Not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains.

No fragment large enough to take a fire from the hearth or to scoop water from a cistern.

It has no useful purpose other than to be underneath someone's marching feet.

In verse 16, we will escape on horses.

We will ride on fast horses, but those who pursue you will be faster.

The people's trust in Egypt is symbolized by them getting on the back of a swift horse, but the judgment of God rides a swifter steed.

It's a tragic metaphor In verse 17,.

They're left to the humiliation of ruin.

One thousand will flee at the threat of one.

At the threat of five, you will flee until you remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.

You're going to be left weak and vulnerable.

You're going to look pathetic.

You're going to be isolated and easily defeated.

That's the end of your plan.

And if this chapter ended just there, all of us would have to say it sounds like it's deserved.

They've recklessly rejected God's plan.

They've refused his person.

They've turned aside from his word.

They've tried to eradicate anybody who represents him from any places of influence.

They've stiff-necked, have refused to bend.

They've laughed at the promises and the extensions of invitation to God.

They deserve what they're going to get.

That's not how this chapter ends.

What is God's response to all this stubbornness going to be?

And that leads us to our third point, and it's astounding Verse 18, a redeeming plan.

The Lord is waiting to show you mercy and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God and all who wait patiently for him are happy.

That's the last thing we would expect verse 18 to read in light of the first 17 verses.

While Israel is flying futilely flying to find hope in Egypt, god is there waiting to show grace and mercy.

Amen.

What patience, what willingness to forgive.

These people have rebelled, but he tells them if you return, you're going to find healing and you're going to find compassion and you're going to find restoration.

There's a man by the name of Robert Hawker.

There's a man by the name of Robert Hawker.

Robert Hawker lived in a cave in the north side of Cornwall, in a hermit's hut of all places, and I've been to that hut many, many years ago and in that hut he did some good thinking besides doing some strange living.

Listen what he has to say about this verse Reader.

Observe the workings of grace and how the Lord's love breaks out Before the weapons of sin in the rebellious child's hands have even fallen down.

Sin in the rebellious child's hands have even fallen down.

Observe in this sweet scripture not only the waiting in the Lord to be gracious, but to be very gracious, not only in his yearnings to pardon, but in his receiving into his favor.

Isn't that beautiful and as proof of it, whereas in times past the Lord's prophets and teachers had been prohibited from speaking to the people here in the name of the Lord.

Yet now the people should not only hear God and see these prophets, but feel the power of grace in their hearts.

What a wonder this is.

God has called them to turn around.

Come back.

Quit trusting in Egypt.

Put yourself in the hands of the one who made the heavens and the earth.

Trust him.

Listen to his word.

You'll be delivered.

You will find your deliverance in your returning and your resting, and your strength will be in quiet confidence.

When we're faced with troubling things those options of just surrendering to the problem or just ignoring it and holding out and hopefully it goes away, or trying to find our own solutions to it all there's another option.

It's called trusting the living God, and that answer isn't just blind faith at all.

This is not what God's calling them to.

He's calling them to trust the one who made all things and who displays himself as one full of mercy and grace and deliverance to help those in need who seek it from him.

You see, once you've tasted that the Lord is good, once you've realized that Jesus is your wisdom from God, your righteousness, your justification and your redemption.

You don't want to look anywhere else, you certainly don't want to just give in to trouble and you certainly don't want to just hold out and hope it just goes away.

And you certainly don't go making your own solutions.

You trust in this God who has saved you, who has redeemed you, who has been merciful to you, who shows his personal favor to you undeservedly.

You learn to live life in light of him, you learn to live life in reliance of this one who is full of character and promises and control.

And so the rest of this chapter moves into some of the blessings that the people receive by turning around and heading to God, encountering all of their rebellious attitudes, encountering all the devastation of that refusal to listen.

We find these wonderful truths given to us and we're just going to move through them very, very quickly.

Verse 19,.

You will weep no more, the people who live in Zion and Jerusalem.

You will never weep again.

Well, they were going to sorrow and mourn in light of their trouble and in light of their conquest and exile, in light of their rebellion.

But if they turn to the Lord, he tells them that he will wipe away their tears.

The scriptures tell us at the very end of the Bible, in Revelation, chapter 21, that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Death will be no more.

Grief, crying and pain will be no more.

Grief, crying and pain will be no more.

You see, this passage speaks into a situation, but then it lifts up and then it speaks to an eternal perspective that God will take all that's wrong with us and all that's wrong with the world and transform it, so that the things that we experience here, such as pain and grief and loss and tears, will be gone.

And here he's speaking the whispers of what he fulfills greater and fully and completely through Christ in that eternal day.

Verses 20 and 21, speak to a rebellious people that refuse God's word, but now will hear it.

Will hear it Says there the Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your teacher will not hide any longer.

Your eyes will see your teacher and whatever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you.

This is the way.

Walk in it.

The people that didn't want to listen are now straining to hear a whisper.

The people that refused the cry of the prophet are now longing for the Spirit to speak, the quiet guidance that he gives.

What a wonder this is.

And these are echoes of the new covenant in Jeremiah, where Jeremiah speaks of the day when people will know the Lord and they won't have to be told to know him, because they will know him, because he will be with them.

He said I'll be their God, I will be their God and they will be my people.

And no longer will one teach his neighbor or brother saying know the Lord for sure they shall all know me.

And I love this beautiful picture of the word of God standing behind us.

And if we're going down life and we kind of veer this way or we kind of veer this way, god is behind us, going this way, no, no, this way, no, this way.

And the sensitivity of our spirit to hear the whispers behind our head giving us the direction of life.

Not only will they no longer weep, now they start to hear and heed God's word Verse 22, they rid themselves of idols.

And whenever it says then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images.

You will throw them away like menstrual cloths and call them filth, the things that they once worshipped they don't want to have in their life at all anymore.

They throw them away.

Paul commended the church at Thessalonica because they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and these people who had constructed their religion and the idols that they had worshiped and had looked to them for help in all of their life, they said this is worthless, just like Paul did in Philippians 3.

He said I count all these things but filth for the excellency of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.

Verses 23 to 26 talk about their healing, but it starts with the healing of the land, then it moves to the healing of their hearts and there's a land of plenty described here.

But it starts with the healing of the land, then it moves to the healing of their hearts and there's a land of plenty described here.

God will give them rain in the land instead of drought.

That will help them to sow seed and to reap a harvest.

He will provide for them large green pastures that will be grazing land for herds of cattle and choice fodder for the oxen, and young donkeys will work the land.

The mountain streams are going to flow again and empty rivers will bubble into life-giving waters.

The moon and the sun, whose lights have been darkened by judgment, are now going to shine with a greater splendor than ever before.

And all of it is culminated in verse 26, where it says this on the day that the Lord bandages his people's injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted, how fully does God restore the repentant heart?

Absolutely, that's how much, every way you can possibly think.

In an agrarian society, the best life ever has just been described, with all of the plentiful resources needed for abundance and flourishing and peace and fulfillment.

And it says this is the image of God's grace, this age of peace and security.

Verse 27 and 28,.

You will see God destroying your enemies.

The name of the Lord is coming from far away, his anger burning and heavy with smoke, his lips full of fury, his tongue like a consuming fire, his breath like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck.

And he comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction.

All of their enemies will be no more.

It is peace in every way.

And finally, one thing they will do is they will sing.

They will sing Verse 29,.

Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel, the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard and reveal his arm.

God will cause his people not to gloat over their enemies and not just to be full of gluttonous pleasure by taking in all the bounty, but by giving God glory for his merciful grace to turn toward them, not in the judgment that they deserved, but in the grace of receiving, as he gives them the gift of repentance and return.

What a wonderful chapter.

This is A chapter in which we've seen the people of Israel come full circle from rebellion to redemption.

The warnings in it are real.

The prospect of ruination for those who continue to live a life apart from God and his word are real, but so are the promises of hope and restoration to the repentant.

And I have a question for you Is your life got a Maginot line?

Have you built up your defenses and have you put your securities in all of those things that you think are going to protect you?

Do you think, well, come what may, I'm good and perhaps for a while it looks like it'll defend you?

Perhaps for a while you feel like you live in safety and abundance.

You feel like you live with security and perhaps even success.

But there's more to life than just how big your bank account is and how secure your job is and how wide your house is.

There comes a day that all of us have to face, when our eyes will close in death and the scriptures say that we will awaken to face the living God in a judgment.

What will your line of defense be for that?

Will it withstand that coming day?

Will it be able to exonerate you on the day?

God, who is thrice holy, looks into your life and examines it, or will he bypass it in a moment and bring you to swift destruction, like France when it fell?

What are you trusting, not just for life, but for eternity?

You can't just hope it goes away, because it's not going to go away and you might get on the horseback of a swift beast to carry you away from him and his presence.

But I have to tell you, god has some very, very fast horses in his stable and they're a lot faster than yours and they're a lot faster than yours.

You see, the remedy is to receive the sweet invitation that's here, and I dare say there's none of us any worse than the folks listed in the first 17 verses of this chapter?

Now we might be just as bad, but I doubt we can be much worse.

And if God would speak the sweet invitations and hope and reconciliation to them, he can speak it and does speak it to you.

Isn't that wonderful.

So what do you do?

Read verse 15 again for yourself, for the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, has said you will be delivered by returning and resting.

Your strength will lie in quiet confidence.

What will your answer be?

Will you say yes?

Will you say yes, will you say yes To repent of rebellious actions, to look to God for his salvation?

It will lead you to a place where you can be calm rather than fearful, where you can rely upon his strength rather than your own ingenuity, where you can let go of all your strivings and find a place of peace.

Let's pray.

A place of peace.

Let's pray.

Oh Father, we pray to you and we ask Lord, as rebellious as we are and as unworthy as we are, of the least of your mercies.

We pray for your sake, for the glory of your grace, that you would let our protection be the least of your mercies.

We pray for your sake, for the glory of your grace, that you would let our protection be the protection of you and, lord, that you would stop our striving to seek the strength from the Egypts of this world, the arm of flesh and the false confidences of the heart.

Oh, lord, jesus, be our strength, be our salvation, be our sure help in every time of need, and let that sweet promise of yours be ever in our hearts that you are the Lord who waits to be gracious, who waits not only to give mercy in the best time, but in the time of our deepest need.

Let that be our hearts, lord, and grant us the ability to fully understand you and to understand all of your mercies, and to make room in our poor souls for you.

Drive out every other thought, every other interest, every other affection, so that you, the living God, may come and take entire possession and reign and rule in us, you who are the Lord of life and the Lord of glory, and we pray this in Christ's name, amen.