Don't Miss the Real Issue

S - Isaiah 7:4, 9b (NIV): "Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood--because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. … If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.' "

O - Being careful under intense hostility and pending doom is rarely something that hasn't crossed our minds. Yet, the care the Lord instructs the king (Ahaz, son of Uzziah) to engage is not about wartime strategies or foreign relations. He is not called to be careful about palace protocols or making some leadership miscalculation which will plunge him and his kingdom into destruction. He is called be careful concerning faith i.e. his personal response to the Living God. It is a concern which is greater than the current emergency and the counsel is not a plan to get through the crisis but to come near the Lord. This response will reveal and determine the state of his heart and this is the issue of pleasing God and growing forward in God's will on earth. The result of this kind of being careful is a calm based on God's presence and a confidence based on God's love and power.

A - Circumstances and situations can be serious inspirations to lose heart. We can't see any way out or any good that will come from the current dilemma. While such is what I can't see what I can glimpse is the Lord and his greatness, kindness, brilliance, power and goodness. When the pressure of timelines, shadows of inevitabilities and the intimidation of quite apparent impossibilities are all gathered around my very little life the Lord's counsel to the king is also his counsel to me. Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid … do not lose heart … stand firm in your faith. He calls me to this regardless of the circumstance and only in the context of today. Today I will do the work of believing, of trusting and of staying near. Jesus plainly says that tomorrow will worry about itself. Standing today with hope for the future will require me to take him at his word. I will take the Lord at his word.

P - Dear Immanuel,
Thank you for coming near us, being with us and for helping us know what to do and how to focus. This day is my only opportunity to stand, to believe and to stay near. Lord, I am so very happy, even in unhappy circumstances, to engage your counsel and your person. LORD, I yield to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness. Today while it is called today I will be careful, keep calm, refuse fear and not lose heart. I will rely on you and your relentless love.
Standing,

Steve