He longs.

I've been roaming around in the bible book of Isaiah, chapter 30, verses 9 to 18 if you want to do your own roaming. You won't be surprised what's there. Good news, gospel themes tucked away in an Old Testament prophet's writing pointing us forward to things that are timely for our good news needing today. Listen to the old, fresh themes.

Isaiah, God's spokesman at the time, is telling the Damon's and you's of his time what they're like. Rebellious and deceitful, unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. (Soft cough) That might sound vaguely familiar. Unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. (Yes, I'm listening) These next ones just rip me out. "Only tell us pleasant things. Stop confronting us with the Holy One." Oh how Abba's words cut so freshly clear and deep. Couldn't say it any more crystal clear. That's what I want sometimes. Stop confronting me Holy One. Just stop.

So, then the Holy One tells them what it would be like if He stopped pursuing them. "You'll be like a high wall, cracked and bulging that collapses in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found...." Holy One's Words are so vividly clear. Me without Him? Crash. And burn. No real life. No life.

And then we get to this oh so important moment that we have been at so many times. What will Papa do next? Will He chide? Will He mock after billions of rejections from His creation? No. He teaches. Don't miss the stunning refreshment of this crazy love. Instead of turning away in disgust at our total lack of good news hunger, He turns toward and teaches. Actually, turns toward and keeps teaching because, of course He never stops.

So, what's He teaching? Come back to Me.

Ahhh yes. Come back to Me.

"In returning and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength." All of these words bore deep with soul meaning. There is always an invitation to come back to God. That IS good news. And right when we start to get soul busy figuring out the way to tell Papa what we'll do to make sure we're returning, He says.....REST. Return and rest. You can't do anything to get back to Me. I already did it. Just rest with Me. Rest and trust. It's the same thing with trust I think. Most of the time about the only way we talk about trusting Him is how "I will trust you God" and again we get busy with our trusting and tell Him how WE'LL do it. What if we saw it less as us trusting Him and more Him telling us, "You can trust Me". It's on Me.

So where do they end up in this returning, rest, quietness, trust invitation? Wait for it. It's familiar. "But you would have none of it." I so appreciate how the Bible keeps it real . With such stirring words like return, rest, quietness and trust how could the response be anything but triumphant acceptance of such a holy offer? Nope. They didn't want it. Any of it. So God offers. They reject. Is it over? So God offers. We reject. Is it over?

Verse 18. "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" He offers. We reject. He keeps inviting. That's the gospel. Respond while you're invited. What are you being invited to? Being wanted. When He cuts through all the earth and heart barriers in a single soul isn't that what we really want (see there it is, want)? To be wanted. Wanted so much that the word "longs" is used. It means "passionately waiting". The Lord passionately waits to be gracious to you. It's hard to write much of anything else. What else is there really? He wants you.

This tender heart is in a season of remembering as Trey is living out his senior year. I remember in his early high school days before he was a licensed driver that I was his ride to and from school most days. I loved it. It was really only a total of about 17 minutes in the car both ways. But it was a holy 17 for me. For some reason in those early days of taking Trey to school in freshman year, I started a tradition. We would stop in front of Bearden and he would get out of the front seat and open the back door where his backpack was. As he opened the back door and grabbed his pack on many of those early morning school trips, the last words I would say to him was, "God wants you a lot." I remember that.

God. Wants. You. A. Lot.

There's more.