ReignНамуна

Aram and Israel had joined forces to come up against the kingdom of Judah. Ahaz, the king, was quaking in his sandals. He didn’t believe God would be faithful to help him when he needed it—probably because Ahaz had never been faithful to God. Ahaz was vile. Wicked. He didn’t obey God. Instead, he worshiped other gods in God’s land. And maybe the worst example of how far gone he was, he sacrificed his son in the fire as an offering to one of these demon-gods (see 2 Kings 16:3). All that to say, King Ahaz was probably shocked when the prophet Isaiah came to him and said God would deliver him from his enemies. God was even going to give him a sign—a sign of Ahaz’s choosing—to prove it to him. But Ahaz refused. Instead of trusting God, he reached out to the king of Assyria for help. And while the Assyrians did come to the rescue, Ahaz became their servant and had to pay tribute to the empire from then on.

God wanted Ahaz to turn to Him. Even though Ahaz had done such vile things, God’s love was even greater. May we not be like Ahaz and turn from God’s always-extended hand.