Saturday 25 Mar 2023

March 25: Isaiah 7:10-14

Key Verse: Isaiah 7:12
But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.’

Devotion:
If you were to read this verse by itself you may well conclude Ahaz is being good and not putting God to the test… but we need to know who is doing the asking! If someone is asking you to get the Lord to do something just to prove He is real or more powerful than earthly things, then we should ignore such requests and stick to what we know – nothing is impossible with God!

But what happens when God does the asking? What should we do? Do we ask for a sign and make it look like we don’t have faith in God? Or do we ignore the request and show God we don’t trust what He is saying to us! It’s a difficult choice when we look at it from different angles, but one thing is sure: when God asks us to do something we should be willing to say “Here I am, use me!”

God may ask some strange things of us from time to time, but we need to know it is God talking and not our foolish pride or arrogance. We get to know who is doing the asking by making sure we obey Him whenever He asks of us. Sometimes that will put us in difficult positions with our friends and neighbours, but God is the one who knows what the outcome will be and we need to have the faith He does know.

We are the ones who need to get used to listening to God and obeying. If we always turn a deaf ear to what God says, we will find it difficult to listen when He really is asking something very important of us. The more we get used to listening to God and answering Him when He calls, the more we get to understand how He already knows the future and knows what we need...

Points to Ponder:
Do you draw away from God when He asks something you don’t agree with?

Will you trust God no matter what?