Testing the Lord - Isaiah 7 - Advent 4A

Testing the Lord

Tony E Hansen

Reflection on Psalm 80, Isaiah 7: 10-16, Matthew 1: 18-25

Opening prayer

God does something for Ahaz. God asks Ahaz for anything, but Ahaz says “I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Someone was given the ultimate prize: anything they could ask to have or see, but this person refuses an exceptional gift.  But why?

When Jesus was in the desert, he tells the tempter, do not put the Lord to the test.

Why ?

When we are offered the world, visions, and all that could be, what are we seeing, hearing in those offers?

When the world is offered to us on a platter, question the offer .

Are we witnessing God, the offer or our ego?

Are we looking to profit well for ourselves or our neighbors?

People fail and we know that we do.  We might see these offers and want to genuinely take them, but for what purpose ?

What purpose is the offer given to us? Is it a test to us to see where our heart is? 

The Gospels tell us, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So given an awesome opportunity, do we take it and hoard it?  I got mine - off with the rest of you.  Or do you think about this and consider what is being offered? 

Politicians are given great opportunities and some of them live in the moment to serve, and some live in that moment to serve themselves. True leaders are not necessarily ones we elect but ones that rise to meet the needs of the community and they walk with God by them. 

Good leaders and good people won’t just take the divine gifts and give a finger to others or use that position to inflict pain onto others. Nor will they use the divine gifts to judge and divide between who receives good and who gets none. 

Yes being good isn’t just recognition and honors and praise. It is doing the necessary and expressing the love of neighbors through our work, our thoughts and ultimately our being. 

So an offer so great to be, ought be considered too great. What would you ask for ? Money, health, status or some other thing?

What Ahaz chose, in that moment, was wisdom and faith. Wisdom and faith that God has already given great gifts to us, to him. No other signs are needed.

Same for Joseph in Matthew’s gospel. We often overlook that he was planning to divorce, but God intervened. (As God does) Then Joseph leaned into his faith and took her as his wife.

Joseph probably felt lost and sad that she was pregnant.

Yet when we are sad and feel lost, the words of the psalm can be how we ask for help. We know we fail and we will fail. We know we turn from the face and the light of God into ourselves and busy thoughts.

That is when we need to stop and think and lean into faith and wisdom to know that we don’t have all of the answers. We can look to the divine for them and find clarity. Because often it is us walking through a fog and cloudy misunderstanding. It is us tripping our own thoughts and forgetting that there is a path. Look through the fog and cloudy - find God ready to help.

We can look for restoration and God will be there. That is an offer that God provides without judgment. That is an offer ready for you to receive. That is an offer that does not need a test or transaction.

Again, live with the steadfast Love of God in your heart and your interactions with people and you will find restoration, love abounding and wisdom.

That is wisdom: the serenity to accept things I cannot change and courage to change things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

That is faith in our Creator.

Thanks be to God