If you do not
stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9).
During the reign of
Judah’s King 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,
she became a vassal nation subject to its protector Assyria.
In Proverbs 24:10 we
read: If you falter in a time 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.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Have you ever gone through
hard times, sustained by faith you didn’t even know you had? That faith is
still available for you now. Ask.
Thank you for the reminder, that the strength that had helped in the past is still the strength that God can give me today to deal with todays struggles. We have just been witness to an awesome example of trusting God for what was needed to tackle the beverage stands at fair. A small thing in life, but an intense few days for those in charge.
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