Can I pray for you in any
way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian
Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend
requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of
The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of
Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
Now the house of David was told,
“Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people
were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go
out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of
the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him, ‘Be careful,
keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two
smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and
of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your
ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among
ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord
says:
“‘It will not take place, it will
not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only
Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The
head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.”
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
Isaiah 7:1-9
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever been up against a
tough challenge in life?
It’s an interesting question I pose
today because I am writing with a bit of a heavy heart due to a rough spot I am
in right now.
How do we stay encouraged in the
midst of difficulty, difficulty that penetrates into your heart and seeks to
steal away joy and peace?
The answer is in today’s scriptures
as we look at the opening nine verses of Isaiah, Chapter 7. Look again at this
word of God here:
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King
Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight
against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”;
so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest
are shaken by the wind.
Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to
meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the
Launderer’s Field. Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do
not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the
fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and
Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us
tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king
over it.”
Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is
Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim
will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the
head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.”
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
In this passage, we find the
southern kingdom of Judah in a precarious situation. The challenge they were up
against was the advance and attack two armies, one led by King Rezin of Aram
and the other by Pekah who was king of Israel. The enemy fighting force advanced
to embattle Jerusalem but as the scriptures tells us, they “could not overpower
it.” Still, the negative impact this threat had was obvious in the reaction of
the Judeans under the leadership of King Ahaz as we read their hearts were “shaken,
as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”
What could change the story for the
Judeans? What could give them the reassurance that things were going to be
alright, even in the midst of trying times?
There is only one right answer to
these questions. There is only one right answer to what I am facing right now.
That answer is the Lord.
For when the hearts of the Judeans
were shaken and unsure of what their fate might be, we read where the Sovereign
Lord gave this message for Isaiah to share with the people:
“Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the
aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him,
‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these
two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram
and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your
ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among
ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
“‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is
Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim
will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the
head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.”
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
“It will not take place, it will
not happen”, the Lord declared. Although Aram and Israel thought they were
going to attack and capture the holiest city in the world, the Lord was going
to have the final say as He always does. The attack would not happen because
God said it wouldn’t happen. Period.
You see, God is in control.
How easily we forget this when
times go south for us and times will go south if you live life long enough. The
people of Judah had lost sight of this and so in the face of danger, their
hearts were shaken. They were more sure that they were going to be attacked and
under siege than they were of God watching over them and protecting them. Like
the disciples in the boat when the great storm came upon them at sea and they
awakened Jesus, afraid that they were going to capsize (Matthew 8:23-27), the
people of Judah lost their bearing while facing the storm of war brewing on
their doorstep, they lost bearing on seeing God as the One who dictates the way
things will go in life. And God, as His Son would later do, chided His people
for their lack of faith. Look again at what He said:
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
That was the problem with the
Judeans and that is my problem today as well. They, and I, failed to stand firm
in faith that God was in control. As a result, the Judeans were unable to stand
up in confidence and faith when facing trial. Instead, they trembled at the
thought of being besieged. Likewise, I found my entire spirit dulled with
despair, my joy drained by dejection and despondency. I wasn’t exactly standing
firm on the faith that God is in control, that’s for sure.
Friends, this can easily happen to any
of us if we’re not careful. Life has a way of bringing us into hardship and it
can come suddenly. That hardship can drag us down the road of gloom and misery
if we’re not careful, hijacking our sense of hope along the way. Maybe the
hardship comes through personal struggles, maybe it comes through family, maybe
it comes through work, or maybe it comes when we’re under attack by another. Maybe
hardship has come on you as it did me today and shaken your faith at its very core.
Thanks be to God for His timely
word, a word I needed today and a word I plan on writing on my heart so I don’t
have another day like it ever again.
For God is in control and there is
no hardship that is beyond resolution through Him. Have faith and trust in that
always. I know I’m going to.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment