Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Let us not tire of returning again and again to the LORD. Humanly, we grow tired of working on the same flaws with little apparent progress to show for it. But here success is not the main thing. The main thing is to rely on the LORD and to pursue him for the grace we need for holiness. If we fail, we remain humble. If we succeed, we give thanks to God. He does not long to see us struggle.
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
The LORD does allow us to experience the humility of our own poverty. But it is precisely so that we learn to trust in him alone for strength. He teaches us to pray with the psalmist:
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
The LORD does not desire our frustration. He desires to be our dew so that we can grow like Lebanon cedars, splendid as olive trees. On our own we dwell in the scorching sun. We quickly wither. But when we turn to the LORD we dwell in his shade. He makes our fruit not just good, but famous wine.
The LORD wants us to have peace and joy. So why does he allow us to experience failure in the same areas again and again? Perhaps he is really working on our pride. We think if we just do certain things and pray in certain ways we'll finally succeed. And doubtless those things are helpful and important. But more important is the humility that trusts in the LORD above any initiative we can take.
When we learn to trust in the LORD completely he is free to use us as he desires:
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
We don't have to solve our problems. We don't have to find the words. We have to ask the Spirit for the joy of salvation. He gives us words, not forever, but for the moment we need them. This is true trust. It does not fall back on any strategy of our own. It falls back on God himself. His arms of mercy will surely catch us.
My mouth will declare your praise.
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