Jim Street

"I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test." (Isaiah 7:12)

The words sound good.  So righteous.  So pious.  So noble.

They belong to Ahaz, the young king of Judah (8th century B.C.)  Ahaz is in the midst of a political storm.  Assyria is a threat to the north.  The kings of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Aram have approached him to join an alliance against Assyria.  If he refuses to join them, they threaten to topple his kingdom and set up a puppet king who will do their bidding.

Isaiah, the prophet, has promised Ahaz that God will shield him from the two "smoking firebrands."  He has assured him that the kingdom will stand if he, Ahaz, resists the temptation to take matters into his own hands and puts his faith in God.

Isaiah even offers the guarantee of a sign: "Ask of the Lord anything you want, Ahaz.  Ask for a sign in the highest heavens or even in the depths of Sheol.  The Lord wants you to know beyond all doubt that He is faithful to you.  All he wants is for you to be faithful to Him."

That's when Ahaz replies that he will not test God in that way, that he will not ask for a sign.

So noble.  So pious.  So righteous. 

The truth is that Ahaz does not want assurances from God.  Ahaz does not want a demonstration of God's faithfulness.  Ahaz does not want to "risk" faith when he has already decided what he will do.

Why place your faith in the unseen God when you can trust your own abilities, your own plans, your own agenda?

Ahaz has already plotted to join the king of Assyria against the kings of Israel and Aram.  (II Kings 16)  Ahaz already knows what he wants and what he will do.

We might think that Ahaz is a fool.  Why any one of us- when given the option of trusting God or trusting ourselves- would trust God...wouldn't we? 

Well...wouldn't we?

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For resources related to the season of the church year or the Revised Common Lectionary go here.

For a series of questions for personal reflection/small group discussion on the RCL texts for the week go here.

Our beautiful grand daughter, Sarah Isabella, made her entrance into the world on Friday, February 24th.  She is gorgeous even if she does look like her daddy!  (Her mom did a splendid job of ushering her into this world!)

A couple of days after her birth we learned that she has some medical challenges.  That scared us to death.  To be drawn and quartered by your own emotions is quite an experience!  To simultaneously feel supreme joy and supreme fear is a wrenching thing. To trust in God and brace for the worst is a heart-rending experience.  To stand prepared to defend your beloved ones against an unknown and invisible threat is to be shown an utterly helpless fool.

As the week progressed we gained a better understanding of her challenges and were relieved to learn that she will live a normal life with the help of medicine.

Let me tell you...grace can feel like exhaling.

I started searching  the Internet to help my daughter find the best way to give a pill to a newborn.  I was so excited to find a reference on a bulletin board from a mother who recommended a particular device that she had found to be the perfect solution to the problem.

I emailed my daughter the link that described the device.  When she read it she felt there was something familiar about the name of that device.

As it turned out, one of my daughter's dear friends had given her that very device at a shower a couple of weeks before the baby was born.  At the time she received the gift, my daughter wondered why she had been given that particular gift.  After all, there was no reason to believe there would be any need for it. 

Isn't that something?  The specific thing she needed was provided even before anyone was aware that she would ever need it!

To me that just shows that God drops these little hints...these little crumbs...these tiny clues to remind us that though things seem dark that He is ever-present, ever-involved, ever-caring. 

God knows our need even before we do!

I wonder how often things like that happen in our lives.  And, I wonder how often we take notice of them.  And, I wonder, even when we do notice them, how often we pass them off as mere coincidences or insignificant little accidents of chance.

I believe that even while we are stumbling in the dark that God drops these hints to remind us that He meant it when He said that He would never leave us nor forsake us.

Maybe we just need to open our eyes a bit more to see God's hints!