A Good Choice - King Ahaz

Later, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz: “Ask the LORD your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.” But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the LORD like that.”

Isaiah 7:10-12

Two hunters came across a bear so big that they dropped their rifles and ran. One of them climbed a tree while the other hid in a nearby cave. The bear was in no hurry to eat, so he sat down between the tree and the cave and patiently waited.

Suddenly, the hunter in the cave rushed out, almost ran into the waiting bear, then dashed back in again. When the same thing happened again, his companion frantically called out from the tree, “Are you crazy? Stay in the cave till he leaves!”

“I can’t! There’s another bear in there—and he’s bigger than this one!”

Sometimes life presents true dilemmas as it forces choices between two equally difficult or even impossible alternatives. Ahaz, the ungodly king of Judah, once found himself in just such a situation.

Ahaz had brought the religious, political, and social climate in Judah to a point of crisis. And things would soon get much worse for Ahaz and Judah.

Assyria, the dominant world military power of the day, was on the move and posed a growing threat to Judah, Israel, and Syria. Israel and Syria were both Judah’s enemies, but they tried to persuade Ahaz to join them in standing up to Assyria.

Ahaz knew that there was probably only one plan worse than siding with Assyria against Israel, and that was to side with Israel and Syria against Assyria. He seemed to have no other alternative other than one that he had no interest in—the right one. He simply couldn’t get himself to trust God and allow him to take care of the situation (see Isaiah 7:11).

Rather than make the wise choice, Ahaz chose what he saw as the lesser of two evils. His choice to join forces with Assyria had disastrous consequences for the nation of Judah (see 2 Kings 16:7-9).

Life will sometimes present you with what seem to be equally difficult or impossible choices. When you can’t figure out what to do next, the one right alternative is to trust God and allow him to get you through such troublesome times.