“Seeing through his specious excuse”

(12) “But Ahaz said, I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

God spoke again to Ahaz and told him to ask Him for a sign of confirmation but Ahaz who was full of conceit refused. He did not need God's help to believe and made an excuse, saying that he could not test God like that. But Isaiah told Ahaz that, despite his refusal to ask for a sign, God was going to give him one anyway. The sign that the virgin will conceive a child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel which means ‘God is with us’. In verse 20, Isaiah said to him that God would let the king of Assyria humiliate the people of Judah on that day. God would use him as a razor to shave their heads and beards. This shaving of the head and face was a sign of total humiliation.

The passage of today tells me that God was willing to give him a sign as a confirmation of what He had told him through Isaiah. God gave Ahaz an opportunity to seek Him and start new relationship with Him. To him, this was a great chance to show his willingness to stand firm in his faith and trust God in His word.  But He refused His offer because he had neither trusted God nor understood His will. He had no understanding about how God do best to put “His Eyes” in front of our dilly lives and facing problems not to lose our hearts and faith. Through today’s message, I have made myself clear that if I ever abandon my trust and confidence in God, I am guaranteed to fail right away and surely judgment would be given to me. Again the passage reminds me that I either stand firm in my faith or not. Today I will pay attention closely to a situation I find myself making plans without consulting Him.