Faith Triumphs Fear - Isaiah 7-11

Isaiah 7:5-9 (ESV)

Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” thus says the Lord GOD:

“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

For the head of Syria is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’”

Resin, the king of Syria and Pekah, the king of Ephraim (a northern tribe of Israel) have conspired to take down Judah.   Judah’s king, Ahaz, is in fear of this plot.  Isaiah is sent to calm his spirit and to let him know that the wicked might plan against us, put they will not prosper.   The wicked plan, but God is sovereign over even their plans:

Esther 8:3 (ESV)

Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil PLAN of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.

Esther 9:25 (ESV)

But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil PLAN that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Proverbs 26:27 (ESV)

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,

and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of man PLANS his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

Psalms 33:10 (ESV)

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

he frustrates the PLANS of the peoples.

The evil plans men have for God’s people will come back onto them.  

Isaiah wants Ahaz to simply trust in God and that God will bring to nothing the evil plans that Syria and Ephraim have for Judah.   God’s words through Isaiah are simple, but also powerful:

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.   

God’s message to Ahaz is trust me in faith and I will take care of it.