Saturday, December 5, 2015
Isaiah,
Chapter 8, verse 5-7:
The Choice: The Lord or Assyria. 5Again
the LORD spoke to me: 6Because this
people* has rejected the waters
of Shiloah that flow gently, And melts with fear at the display of Rezin
and Remaliah’s son, 7Therefore
the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, great and mighty,
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
Isaiah here is admonishing the people that if they give in to fear
and seek the aid of neighboring kings they are making a choice. The Lord or Assyria. Isaiah encouraged them to have courage and
trust in God rather than men. The people
repeated the same error as in the time of Moses for they lacked courage failing
to trust in God and while Moses was on Mount Ararat receiving the Ten
Commandments the people made a graven image to protect them. Ultimately King Ahaz and Israel lacked
courage and sought the aid of the strong warrior nation of Assyria which
resulted in their ultimate failure.
We must learn from this verse to put our trust solely in God and mark
our actions and thoughts with total confidence in the power of God.
Isaiah in the previous chapter had strived to get King Ahaz to make
an act of faith in God's power: "Ask a sign of the Lord your
God." However, the king refused;
for he preferred to seek salvation in human aid, the prophet made this
prediction: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to
weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you
a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Emmanuel"[1](Is
7:13-14). Courage requires us to have the vision of Christ for: “For Where there is no vision, the
people perish.”
(Proverbs 29:18).
Today is traditionally the Eve of the feast of St. Nicholas and many families have their children put out shoes or stockings for St. Nick to fill. Tonight would be a good time to shut off the TV and have a family night[1] and perhaps discover the true St. Nicholas who was devoted to Christ and was compassionate to the poor and a stout defender of children.
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