Title: A Word in Time of Need/Topic: Hearing God

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 6; Isaiah 7; 2 Chronicles 26; 2 Chronicles 27; Philemon 1

Scripture: Isaiah 7:2, 7-9
2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with [a] Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: " 'It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 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. 9 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.' "

Observation: During times of threat, fear, or problem of any kind, the Lord is faithful to give us a word of encouragement or wisdom if we will seek him. Sometimes that word comes through prayer in times of solitude and sometimes it comes through others in the Body of Christ. The key is to seek the Lord and then to accept and trust what he says. In this case, the Lord warned Ahaz to be sure to stand firm in his faith, or he would not be able to get through this time of trial well. God knew he needed this warning because his faith was weak. When the prophet told him that God wanted him to ask for a sign that this word would come true, the king refused to do it. Whether his disobedience was from fear or from a false sense of spirituality, his response is an indication of weak faith.

Application: We need to be sure we seek the Lord, especially in times of trouble, and then we need to be sure we LISTEN, TRUST IN and OBEY what we are told. Otherwise we will suffer much more than we need to and will miss seeing the Lord work on our behalf.

Prayer: Father help me, and all your people, to seek you and trust in you when you speak to us. Let us humbly receive instruction and words of wisdom and knowledge that come to us from those in the church who are mature. Help us to be humble enough to repent when we are rightly rebuked so that we may be healed and restored. May we always see your hand of deliverance working on our behalf and praise you for it.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.