Dec. 14: Denying the signs

By Jenny Speight, a senior English major from Cleveland, Ohio

Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-16 (NRSV)

DEVOTIONAL:

We’ve all heard that we shouldn’t put God to the test, and yet, in this passage, God invites Ahaz to do just that. He tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, be it in the Heavens or on the Earth, but Ahaz declines. My first thought was, “Wow, what great faith!” But I wonder if maybe Ahaz was simply afraid that God would prove himself.

King Ahaz was not what we might call a good man. He did not know God, let alone trust him. To receive a sign indicating that God would indeed carry them through required faith, and Ahaz had none. But God gave him a sign anyway.

Declining a sign from the God who has graciously offered to prove himself was not a gesture of faith, it was fear. God wanted to show himself to the people. So Ahaz, rather than being used by God, has God’s purposes accomplished in spite of him. The birth of Christ was announced though Ahaz declined God’s offer to show a sign. How often do we do this, ignoring or declining an offer from God?

This passage demonstrates God’s ability to accomplish what he wants in spite of us, but it doesn’t give us license to ignore him. The sign God provides is Emmanuel – God with us. When Ahaz denied the sign, he denied Emmanuel. But God gave it to us anyway.

Though we deny the sign – the very proof God so longs to give us – he continues his work anyway.

Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-16 (NRSV)

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. ¹³Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. ¹⁵He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.