“For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”” (Isaiah 30:15 ESV)

“Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18 ESV)

God calls His people to return, repent and rest in Him and He will provide for and protect them; their strength was to be found in quietness and trust in God (30:15).  But the people were unwilling (v 16) and depended, instead, upon the perceived strength and power of their Egyptian protectors (v 16-17).  So how does God respond?  With wrath, with judgement, with His strong oppressive arm?  No, God responds in unmerited favor – He responds with radical grace (v 18)!  Don’t miss the fact that He is still a God of justice, but He has determined that He will extend mercy and grace.  These rebellious, idolatrous, heard hearted people (sound familiar) were constantly rejecting the loving, protecting hand of their God in lieu of every idol that they could find and yet, God mercifully and patiently extends grace!  The fact that the sovereign Creator of all things is merciful to any of His treasonous creatures is foreign to me, but it produces worship.  It is, indeed, the kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).