Isaiah 48:16-22: a reflection

16“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord GOD has sent me with his Spirit. 17The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.” 20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out. 22“There is no peace”, says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

God speaks to his people as their teacher and guide: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. And then he voices a grief over what they have missed by not listening to him: Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Had they heeded God, their peace would have flowed abundant and unceasing, like a river; but by not listening, they forfeited that peace. God's guidance leads to a deep peace we miss when we do not heed him.

Notice what the people forfeited by not listening: a peace like a river. God teaches and leads his people for their good, in the way they should go; and had they listened and followed, their peace would have been abundant, flowing, unceasing, like a river. But they did not listen, and so they missed that peace. The peace was there to be had, in heeding God's guidance; but by going their own way instead of his, they forfeited it. God's way leads to a deep, flowing peace; and to reject his guidance is to miss that peace.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too can forfeit a deep peace by not heeding God's guidance. God teaches and leads us for our good, in the way we should go; and heeding him leads to a peace like a river, abundant and flowing. But when we do not listen, going our own way instead of his, we forfeit that peace, and know a restlessness we need not have known. Do not forfeit the peace God's guidance offers by refusing to heed him, going your own way instead of his; the peace of one who follows God's leading flows like a river. Listen to God's guidance and follow it, that your peace may be like a river, rather than forfeiting that peace by going your own way; for God, who teaches you for your good and leads you in the way you should go, offers a deep, flowing peace to those who heed him, a peace forfeited by those who will not listen.

Lord, you speak to your people as their teacher and guide: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. And then you voice a grief over what they have missed by not listening: oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Had they heeded you, their peace would have flowed abundant and unceasing; but by not listening, they forfeited that peace. Show me what the people forfeited by not listening: a peace like a river. You teach and lead your people for their good; and had they listened and followed, their peace would have been abundant, flowing, unceasing. But they did not listen, and so they missed that peace. The peace was there to be had, in heeding your guidance; but by going their own way, they forfeited it. Take that to my heart, for I too can forfeit a deep peace by not heeding your guidance. You teach and lead me for my good; and heeding you leads to a peace like a river. But when I do not listen, going my own way instead of yours, I forfeit that peace, and know a restlessness I need not have known. Keep me from forfeiting the peace your guidance offers by refusing to heed you; the peace of one who follows your leading flows like a river. Help me listen to your guidance and follow it, Lord, that my peace may be like a river.