Isaiah 7:10-17: A Most Dangerous Game

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

Why did Ahaz say that he didn't want a sign? If God spoke to me and told me that the thing I feared the most would not happen and then further told me that I could ask for anything-anything-to prove that this unlikely dreadful event would not happen, why would I turn it down?

Could it be that Ahaz had no confidence in God?  Why put yourself in a circumstance where the credit for any success would go to a God he didn't believe in.  We know that he shut down the temple of Yahweh and set up altars to the gods of Aram (2 Chronicles 28). Maybe he felt Yahweh was not a good bet and that Israel had historically allied with the weakling among middle eastern deities.  

Could it be that Ahaz didn't feel God was trustworthy? That in accepting this "sign" that God was really playing a trick on him. That God was really just waiting for a chance to pounce on Ahaz when he let his guard down.

Could it be that Ahaz didn't like God? That God was too grumpy or demanding or picky and that he had to respect God but never really liked him or loved him.

Or perhaps God asking Ahaz for a sign was a test. God spoke and said that that the feared attack would not happen. He's testing whether Ahaz's reasons for disbelief were genuine or just a smoke screen. When God answers us like this, he is giving us a chance to believe-to replace our misguided independence with a God-oriented dependence. When Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, God still gave him one-a virgin would have a child-something so off-the-charts crazy that Ahaz would know it could know it only could have come from God and also know that his own stubborn heart was refusing to acknowledge God. 

When I know the truth and I still act out the lie is the most damning sign of my sinfulness. If I do, God will still show himself powerful but the results are not pretty, unless God is merciful. Assyria was coming on the heals of Ahaz's deliverance. But (as signified by the name of Isaiah's son), Judah would survive. I don't want to play the same dangerous game as Ahaz.