Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Immanuel: God is with us
Isaiah 7:10-17
Nisha Mathew
Carmel MTC, Boston
v14 - “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
The background of this Bible portion is that civil war was going on between the tribes of Israel and the tribes of Judah and the tribes of Israel wanted to replace Ahaz with another king of their choice. In the book of Isaiah, the above verse is recorded as a prophecy made by Prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz, grandson of Uzziah, when he was undergoing a crisis during his reign of Judah. The crisis was that his kingdom was being attacked by two other kings and Ahaz was really troubled and worried about the security of his kingdom.  Even though prophet Isaiah, tried to convince Ahaz to trust in the Lord, he was not ready.   Then Prophet Isaiah proclaimed the sign of Immanuel  to the house of David .
 
When we think about this passage, in relation to our life, do we really put our trust in God when we are in crisis? Or Do we try to depend on our own practical and logical solutions till we reach to the point that there is no more "phone a friend numbers" left in our speed dial and we have come to the conclusion that our last resort is God.  Or is our faith well rooted that we know that prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled and Immanuel is with us in the midst of our crisis and that we can depend on Him as our first and foremost helper. When we are confused, let Him be our Wonderful Counselor; when we are weak and fragile, trust Him to be our Mighty God; when we feel that everything around is changing, remember He is our Everlasting Father; when anxiety knocks, lean on the Prince of Peace. (Paraphrased from NIV true identity Bible - page 969)  I think that is the level of maturity that God wants our faith to attain. God should be our first resort in everything, in the midst of joy as well as in the midst of insecurity, pain, brokenness or crisis. This Christmas season that’s what God want us to learn - Let Him be our Immanuel.

PRAYER


Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for being there with us always. Forgive us for not leaning on You as our first resort in the midst of  our chaotic life situations. Help us to trust in You and enable us to believe that You will be there with us always. Amen
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)”

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