Forsaking the Assurance of God

Isaiah 7:2-4,10-12: "Now the house of David was told, 'Aram has allied itself with Ephraim'; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. Then the LORD said to Isaiah, 'God out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz on the road to the Washerman's Field. Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid' . . . . Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 'Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.' But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.'"



When one first reads this account of the reign of Ahaz, one may think, "This is a noble response of the king. He did not want to trouble or test the LORD in this situation." Yet as we read the fuller story of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28; 2 Kings 16), we find that he is not nearly as noble as one may first think.



Ahaz is described as a man who "did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD" (2 Kings 16:2). Ahaz was quite brazen in his idolatry . . . "offering sacrifices and burning incense on hilltops" for all to see (2 Chronicles 28:4). So wicked was this man that he participated in the most debased rituals that the neighboring pagans celebrated. He, for example, sacrificed one of his sons to the god, Molech, in the valley of Ben Hinnom as a way of paying tribute and seeking direction from the false god.



As Ahaz served as king of Judah, Rezin (the king of Aram) and Pekah (the king of Israel) made a political alliance to counter the increasing dominance of the Assyrians in the region. Once this pact was made, the two kings decided to broaden their territorial influence by invading the region of Judah.



Ahaz and the people were shaken as the trees in the wind (Isaiah 7) at the thought of this invasion. And despite Ahaz's wickedness, God was still willing to provide protection to his kingdom. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God told the king to "Be calm. Don't be afraid." If only Ahaz would put his faith and obedience in the One True God, God in turn would bring deliverance from his enemies. God even initiated the challenge to Ahaz to ask for a sign "from the deepest depths to the highest heights" to prove that God was committed to providing protection to the people of Judah. Ahaz, however, would have nothing to do with God. In a spirit of rebellion, the king would not recognize God, even though the king was faced with a most perilous fate.



As a result, God "handed over Ahaz to the king of Aram and Israel" (2 Chronicles 28:5). The invaders inflicted heavy casualties upon the Judeans. Pekah, the king of Israel killed 120,000 soldiers of Judah and took as many as 200,000 women and children captive. They also plundered the treasuries of the Judeans, taking the riches back to their respective homelands. Once the Arameans and Israelites had weakened the defenses of the Judeans, the neighboring tribes of the Edomites and Philistines took advantage of the opportunity and invaded the lands of Judah, taking their share of territory and wealth.



Still, Ahaz would not seek the Lord; he sought refuge in the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pilesar. The king of Assyria came to his aid, but only at the cost of the temple and palace treasures that had been saved during the previous invasions. The king of Assyria was more of a trouble than a help to Ahaz, for he sought the opportunity to exploit the vulnerable king of Judah in his time of need.



With all that Ahaz had now experienced, one would think that he would have seen the error of his way and sought the Lord. Sadly, in his time of trouble, "King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD" (2 Chronicles 28:22). He thought that he would worship the gods of the victorious invaders from Damascus, for Ahaz's enemies had been so successful against the Judeans. Ahaz ended up dismantling the Temple of the Lord in deference to the king of Assyria and the pagan altars that had been set up around the land. This behavior would provoke the Lord to anger against the people of Judah. The land was a complete mess, and it would not be long before God's demonstrative judgment would befall the Judeans through the Babylonian invasion.



Ahaz's story is one of sheer rebellion against the Lord. God gave the king so many opportunities to put his faith in Him, but the king refused. The king first did not want to yield himself to the One True God; for this reason, he decided to rescue himself from his perilous situation. Of course, this plan of action brought utter ruin to the land. Thousands of people were killed or captured as a result of the king's lack of submission to the LORD. When Ahaz died, the kingdom was merely a shell of what it once was in its glorious splendor.



We would do well to see that when the enemies of our lives (be it a medical condition, a financial tragedy, a relational crisis, an occupational disappointment, etc.) invade us, we have one of two responses. We can trust in the Lord and surrender to him in obedience or we can try to remedy our problems ourselves. God will bring victory for us through the accomplishing of His Will, if we will trust in Him and follow His commands. If we seek our own path, we will find a similar path of destruction that Ahaz himself experienced.