‘Ask (pray to) the Lord your God for a sign…’‘Hear now you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?’ The Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel’ (Is 7: 11-14)
King Ahaz of Judah is under attack. He and all the people panic at the sure defeat. He goes to inspect the Upper Pool, possibly to see if the reserve of water will be enough in case of war. That speaks of self-confidence. He is a proud and wicked king who deserves no mercy. But we see that God encourages him to trust in Him alone and the victory will be sure. We see here that our God is a God of covenant, a merciful and faithful even with sinners.
Faith helps you to stand and doubt weakens you until you fall. ‘If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all’ (Is 7:9). Faith is God’s command and the only option for righteousness, for pleasing Him. God commands Ahaz to pray, to ask for a sign that will strengthen his faith. In other words God tells him that he must ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Encourager. But Ahaz thinks that more encouragement is unnecessary, trusting that his faith is strong enough. That is when God gets angry and rebukes him for ‘trying His patience’. This word is Hebrew means to weaken or to grieve someone. The lesson is this: religious faith is weak faith and it is polluted; it is mixed with doubt and fear, and it grieves God, the Holy Spirit.
God sovereignly overrules Ahaz foolishness and gives a sign that will forever strengthen the faith of all believers, to the end of time. It is called Immanuel sign, ‘God is with us’. It is a miraculous sign that God knows we need. God recommends the revelation of Immanuel as a sign to establish our faith. Spiritually speaking, Ahaz is commanded to remove his attention and trust from the Water Pool and ‘to look unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith’ (Heb 12:2). We are commanded to look away from self- confidence, which is pride, the result of doubting God, and to behold the beauty and power of Jesus our Savior and Lord. Then all fear is gone! Then faith is established and doubt forever defeated in our hearts!
When the enemy came to attack Jerusalem he was shocked to discover that ‘God is within her – she will never fall’ (Ps 46:5).
Do you believe that the presence of God with you is the only protection you need? This is the Word of God! If you doubt it and you look for the help of man, you will surely fall during times of trials.
O…the presence of God the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer… Immanuel sign and seal…eternal encouragement!!!