Devotion:
Read Isaiah 7:10-16.
Often shared in the weeks leading to Christmas, originally this prophecy was given as a sign of hope for the king and people of the time who were worried about potential invading kings.
Ahaz, king of Judah in the southern kingdom, is about to be attacked by an alliance of the northern kingdom. He is fearful by the idea of a possible end of his reign and by the armies who have a history of killing many people.
The Lord knows Ahaz has other plans than to trust God with this crisis, so he offers to give Ahaz any sign he wishes; he will move heaven and earth if needed (verse 11). Ahaz rejects this offer with a religious response: he will not "put the Lord to the test (verse 12)." He sounds righteous about not wanting to test God, but he has another motive. While he doesn't say that he will take care of this crisis on his own, that is what he means. His hope is in Assyria coming to his aid, and he knows that would not be favorable in the Lord's eyes. So he rejects the clear word of the Lord in favor of his own wisdom.
God gives him a message anyway. “The young woman is going to have a baby. She will give birth to a son. And he will be called Immanuel.” The message is to be understood something like this: “If you believe the Lord promised you a forever king, then surely he would protect you from two insignificant pagan kings if he says he will.”
Ahaz trusted his own solution to a problem over God’s. What are you facing that frightens you now? How trusting of God are you in that situation? God wants us to trust him with both our great and small situations.
Personal Worship Option:
Pray today that you will not let anything keep you from hearing and obeying God.
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