5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it."
7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:" 'It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.' " (Isaiah 7:5-9)
For today’s devotion, verses 5, 7 and 9b stood out to me from the Isaiah chapter 7. It seems there is a very short but poignant story in it.
Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah banded together and plotted the ruin of Ahaz, king of Judah. Isaiah was appointed to go to him and tell him to be careful, stay calm, and not to be afraid. The Sovereign Lord said their plot would not take place. It would not happen. And later, “if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
And, as the story progressed, sure enough, what the Sovereign Lord said was true, it did not happen, it did not take place.
There is a lesson in this for us today. That lesson is to listen, to trust and to obey. If God said it, you can count on it. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Period.
Stand firm. Believe what God has said to you. Even if you do not see it realized yet, stand firm in what God has revealed and what he has promised. Count on it. Bank on it. Stand firm in it. And watch it unfold. It may take years, it may only take moments. But you can trust that when God, who is Sovereign over the universe, says it, you can trust it.
Stand firm in your faith. Stand.
LORD, may we stand firm in everything you have said to us, everything you have revealed to us. May we trust you completely, and know that if you said it, it is done. Amen.
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