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!  O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.  How gracious he will be when you cry for help!  As soon as he hears, he will answer you.  Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 

– Isaiah 30:18-22

Today, do you feel like you have been eating the bread of adversity and drinking the water of affliction?  You know you love the Lord and are trying to serve him to the best of your ability, but it seems like all you have been getting in return is the exact opposite from what you would think!  You would think that by listening to the Lord and doing exactly what he is telling you to do for him would get you more good in return, but instead all you are getting is sharp persecution on every side!  You don’t understand why all this is happening to you and you cry out incessantly to the Lord to help you!  It feels like the Lord is not hearing you even as much as you cry out to him!  Yet this comforting passage of scripture in Isaiah is a reminder that the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he even rises to show you compassion!  That is how much the Lord cares about you!!  Isaiah goes on to write that the Lord is a God of justice…  So the Lord will pay back all your enemies for the injustice that you have been shown!  Isaiah mentions how gracious the Lord will be when you cry out for help!  Even as soon as he hears your cry, he will answer you!  Those assuring words reveal the most loving heart of the Father and how he is very much attentive to your cry, responding immediately when he hears you!  Even though you are going through all this adversity and affliction, the Lord will be your guide… He will be your Teacher!  Just keep waiting on him, pressing in to hear him speak, and listening for him!  With your own eyes you will see him!  No longer will he be hidden from you!  Then when you turn to the right or the left your ears will hear his voice behind you reassuring you… “This is the way, walk in it.”