The Firmness and the Power of Faith in God

In today's first reading, Isaiah 7:1-9, Ahaz, king of Judah is terrified of Assyria, a threat to all of the Middle East in his time. The Lord God aware of the King's terror, instructs Isaiah to go out and meet Ahaz and say to him:  "Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail before these two stumps of smoldering brands the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans, and of the son of Remaliah, because of ...the plots against you, saying, 'Let us go up and tear Judah asunder, make it our own by force...."  However, rather than relying on the invisible God whose presence cannot be seen with the naked eye, King Ahaz relies on the power of the Assyrian army and joins them.  The Lord God says to King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah:  "Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!"  Faithless, "the heart of the king and the heart of the people trembled [before the threat before them], as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind."

What causes you to tremble as you listen to the news each night, as you see violence erupting in our streets and throughout the world, as you watch the stock markets rise and fall, as you listen to our politicians? What is threatening to you? How firm are you?   In what do you have faith? External forces: the military? a person who promises to "save" you, to empower you? a position that promises you security? some earthly, material-bound, consumer-purchased entity?  Any of these can give you a sense of security and are not bad in and of themselves.  It is our total reliance upon them as though they truly have the power to save us.  When we give any of these sources God-like powers and "worship" them in place of the Eternal One, we are in trouble, as was King Ahaz.

May you, through prayer and worship,through love and justice, through forgiveness and repentance, through a life of integrity and honesty, through self-sacrifice for the common good,  anchor your faith in the invisible God: the God of Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob, Leah and Rachel; Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Joseph; the God revealed to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God. "Unless your faith is firm," God says to us through the prophet Isaiah, "you shall not be firm! (Is 7:9).