Isaiah 7:10-17: When We Don't Want God To Ask Us For A Test

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.” - Isaiah 7:10-17

This seems like a more serious decision than, "What should we eat for lunch, honey?" I mean, there are times when I don't like to answer that question because there are so many possible wrong answers. I don't like giving wrong answers. In the beginning days of our marriage, we would require the "asker" to provide at least one suggestion when asking such a difficult question. That gave the "asked" at least one safe option for responding. This was enshrined as the "suggestion rule" in our marriage. 

We don't have to invoke it as often as we used to. But sometimes it is unavoidable. 

I think that Ahaz had a form of this same dilemma. There was no good answer to this question. He knew that he wasn't on God's good side and therefore any answer he gave was likely to still result in judgement. So he plays 'pretend holy' and says that he will not put the Lord to the test. A noble sentiment except that God himself had instructed him to put him to the test.

God was trying to get Ahaz's attention: just so you know that I am speaking, that it is not the word of some second-rate prophet-you give me the sign that I will use to prove that what will happen is from me. When Ahaz doesn't respond, God chooses an unlikely sign: a particular young woman, unmarried, a virgin that Ahaz knew about, was going to give birth to a child and that child's life was to set the time table for God's judgment on Israel using the Assyrian nation.

Matthew will pick up on this theme when talking about Jesus: the virgin birth will act as a sign and the child's life will be the time table for God's plan of redemption.

I usually think that I would like to hear unequivocally from God and his plans for my life. I have definitely put tests out there for God and said, "If you really want this, then do this." This model is at least as old as Gideon. There have also been times when I wasn't sure I wanted to know God's plan for me, usually when I already had a good plan for my life. When we were planning to go to the Philippines as missionaries, we thought we had God's plan. And when that fell through and we had to think about what God's plan might actually look like, I kept trying to wrestle God back onto my plan. I didn't want a sign from God about another direction, I wanted to insist on mine. Not a good move.