ESOCS Devotional 8 January 2025 – Trusting God Over Everything Else
MEMORY VERSE: “Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smouldering stubs of firewood.” Isaiah 7: 4
TEXT: ISAIAH 7:1-END
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are deployed in Ephraim.” So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and [c]Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”— 7 thus says the Lord God:
“It shall not stand,
Nor shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin.
Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken,
So that it will not be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.
If you will not believe,
Surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”
10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”
18 And it shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will whistle for the fly
That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 They will come, and all of them will rest
In the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks,
And on all thorns and in all pastures.
20 In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor,
With those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the legs,
And will also remove the beard.
21 It shall be in that day
That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give,
That he will eat curds;
For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land.
23 It shall happen in that day,
That wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver,
It will be for briers and thorns.
24 With arrows and bows men will come there,
Because all the land will become briers and thorns.
25 And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe,
You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns;
But it will become a range for oxen
And a place for sheep to roam.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
Assyria was threatening the kingdoms of Syria, Israel and Judah and so, Syria and Israel decided to join forces. They wanted Judah to join too, but they wouldn’t. So, Syria and Israel instead tried to conquer Judah and make them agree to an alliance. This is the situation King Ahaz of Judah was facing. Syria, Israel and Assyria were all against him, and that’s why “the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (v. 2). But God sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz “at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway” (v. 3) to tell him: “Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrand”
The message from God to someone this morning like Ahaz was, “Son! Just calm down, don’t be afraid and don’t do anything rash.” Why? Because the forces of Syria and Israel were like smouldering stumps, like two charred pieces of wood. There was no real danger in them worth being afraid of. The first thing God wanted to tell Ahaz was to calm down. The second thing was that God Himself wasn’t going to allow Syria and Israel to succeed (vv. 5-7). Ahaz didn’t need to perform any heroic manoeuvres or political alliances. He just needed to trust that God was telling the truth (V8-9).
From here, we have three points of application: Trust God when your circumstances seem dangerous and your heart shakes. Like Ahaz, we’ll face apparent danger. Loved ones will get sick, finances will fall through, and people will get angry with us. For Christians, these trials are opportunities to sink our roots down into deeper faith in God.
Trust God by taking Him at His word. Like Ahaz, we’re armed with God’s Word when we face difficulties in life. This is Christian faith: a determination to believe God’s Word over anything else. Don’t look for other sources of security besides God when life gets tough.
Trust God alone. “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” You can be firm in every other way, but if you’re not firm in faith in God, you won’t be firm at all. Everything we put our trust in can be taken away except for God.
If you’re not a Christian, turn from your sin and go to Jesus. He will forgive you and give you a new heart so that you can obey and trust Him. Then, we all as Christians will grow together, firming up as we trust God in the everyday practicalities of life.
CHALLENGES
- You should develop stubborn faith and remain strong in Jesus under all situations.
PRAYER POINT
- Father, help me to always trust you in every situations of life. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 8:1-end; Jude 1:1-end
ESOCS Devotional 8 January 2025
