Christian Family Services Ministry

2-20-2025 – A Word to the Wise – I was reading Isaiah 7 this morning and it brought back a series of memories that some of us share from the past and many from the present. First the passages then the reminders. 7 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with[a] Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub,[b] to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. (ESV Isaiah 7)
What is unique about the passage is that the same people making war then are doing the same now. Only now they are allied with our arch enemy Russia. In the former circumstance the Lord offers to be of help but the leader was to arrogant and turned to other ‘helpers.’
I remember as a young schoolchild in the late 1940s’ and fifty’s this same enemy was terrifying this nation with nuclear war. (It turns out later through intelligence that Russia did not have the means to conduct nuclear war). But hear we were having alarms and drills in case of attack. Ten years late I was in the military and our job was to keep our nuclear armed missiles online for possible attack. (I remember sitting at my desk checking with the different missile silos about their readiness).
The threat reached its high point with the Cuban missile crisis, and again we were on constant alert prepared to counterattack this ‘great Russian threat.’ Again years later intelligence showed that Russia neither had the means nor ability to enter into warfare with this country.
So here we sit again same old enemy, same old threats. Like in Isaiah’s day sixty-five years from now I suspect Russia will not exist as a war nation rather hopefully they will spend there money on crops and medical treatment instead of threatening war.
But the lesson for us is we trust in our God, and live righteous lives and he will preserve us. If we don’t, we allow ourselves anxiety, and fearfulness, we will turn away from the Lord.

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