One of God’s frustrations with His stubborn children is that they set out without asking for directions. They don’t ask God what to do, where to go. They make their plan and work to carry it out. They lean on their own understanding instead of acknowledging their need for God. Why? Because they think they have understanding.

But the wisdom of man really just amounts to foolishness. God is going to use what they were relying on to humiliate them.

God calls the help of the world, worthless.

God promises sudden destruction because they didn’t want to hear God’s word.

God’s word was offering them salvation, but they rejected it. They didn’t want to hear it. They didn’t want to trust God to save them. They wanted to run away instead, in this particular instance. Today we run to the world. We run to doctors and lawyers and whatever else, anything but God, at least not first.

But God offers salvation. He says, “In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Salvation is in turning to God, in repentance, in turning from our ways and going His way, returning to the path He placed us on, the path of righteousness. It’s in rest that we are saved. We don’t earn salvation. We rest in our salvation. We are saved when we are dwelling in shalom, quiet, thankful, contented, confident, trusting rest, afforded us only in Christ and through His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead to give us new life.

God will be gracious and merciful to us and to those of His who look for salvation other places, but He will wait. He will wait to be gracious. He will wait until we look to Him and cry out. He will be ready to save and to bring about justice. But He will wait.

There will be fury, death, and destruction. The idols, the kings we followed instead of Jesus, must die.

But those who will stop and ask directions, those who will seek and go the way of the Lord, will have a song in the night and gladness in their hearts.