Day 210: Isaiah 7, 8 and 9

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9)

During the reign of Judah’s Jotham (Ahaz’s father), Assyria was a rising power. The kings of Israel and Aram tried to recruit Jotham to conspire with them against Assyria, but he refused. Upon Jotham’s death, the anger of Israel and Aram was poured out against Judah and its new king Ahaz. Seizing the opportunity, Edom also attacked from the southeast and the Philistines from the southwest. Judah was an island in a hostile sea, surrounded by enemies. Ahaz saw no escape other than appealing to Assyria for protection.

Isaiah implored Ahaz to put his faith in Yahweh, not Assyria’s Tiglath-pileser. The prophet made it clear that peaceful conditions don’t require faith: faith isn’t faith until it is tested. But Ahaz buckled, sending a large payment to Assyria. The empire smashed the coalition, all but destroying Israel, and though Judah survived, the southern kingdom became a vassal nation subject to its protector Assyria.

In Proverbs 24:10 (NIV) we read: If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength. Or as the Message puts it: If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place. Remember the lesson from Isaiah: Faith isn’t faith until it’s tested.

You might be surprised what you and God can handle.

Have you ever gone through hard times where you were sustained by faith you didn’t even know you had?