Isaiah 7

At the beginning of this chapter, Syria and Israel join forces to go to war with Judah. Ahaz, the king of Judah, is obviously very nervous about this. More than nervous. He’s terrified. So much so that he’s willing to make an alliance with the king of Assyria to get the help he thinks he needs to defeat his enemies.

There’s just one problem. God wants Ahaz to trust Him instead of trusting in his own battle plan: “‘Be careful and quiet. Do not be afraid or weak in your heart…. Do not be afraid of the burning anger of [those who] have made sinful plans against you’... The Lord God says, ‘This plan will not work. It will not happen... If you will not believe, for sure you will not last.’” (vs 4-5, 7, 9)

How many of you would like a direct line to God? Especially when you’re facing a difficult and troubling situation in your life, do you think it would make everything better to hear God say, “Do not be afraid”? Do you think you would believe Him if He promised you that what you fear most wouldn’t ruin you?

I would think so.

But that sure isn’t what happened in the case of Ahaz. He had an encouraging message direct from God, promising him that all was going to be okay if he would put his trust in the Lord. In fact, God even promised to prove Himself to Ahaz: “The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God. Ask me to give you a miraculous sign. It can be anything in the deepest grave or in the highest heaven.’” (vs 10-11)

But Ahaz refused to even ask for a sign! God gave him a blank check, promising to give him whatever miraculous sign he asked for, but Ahaz wouldn’t do it. He went out of his way to avoid believing.

To me, that’s astounding. Ahaz decided he would rather throw in his lot with the king of an evil nation than trust the supernatural God who had come through for Israel time and time again. He decided he would rather take a chance on the devil than bank on the Lord. And the nation paid dearly for Ahaz’s choice.

This teaches us something incredible about God: He will not force us to believe. He can talk directly to us, giving us promises of His goodness until He’s blue in the face. He can agree to provide any and every evidence necessary for us to use as a basis for our faith in Him. But, at the end of the day, He won’t force us to believe. If we refuse to listen to Him, if we close our eyes to all the evidence for faith that Heaven provides, He will let us live in our blindness.

If we don’t stand firm in faith, we ultimately won’t be able to stand at all. But faith is our decision. God will provide everything we need to be able to make the decision to believe from an intelligent standpoint, but He won’t make us trust in Him. If we choose, we are free to go our own way. He will never force us to believe.