Trust and abandonment
Isaiah 7:10-13
Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said:
Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above.
But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.'
He then said: Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too?
Ahaz, King of Judah, is at war with the neighbouring kingdoms of Israel and Syria, who besiege Jerusalem. Ahaz's people are terrified and have lost confidence.
Our life can also look like a battle. Doubt and fear easily get into our thoughts. At work, with our friends, with our family, with ourselves.
We doubt God as well. A sign would be so reassuring, an answered prayer so helpful.
Do you doubt yourself? Augustine did too: “I have become an enigma to myself ” (Confessions, 10, 33, 50)
Do you doubt God? Augustine did too: “But where was I when I looked for you?... I could not find myself, much less you” (Confessions, 5, 2, 2)
What about replacing doubts and fears in our life by trust and abandonment in God?
That's what happened in Augustine's conversion when he surrendered to God: “Yet all the time you were more inward than my most inward self...” (Confessions, 3, 6, 11)
“All the while I was outside, you were inside” (Confessions, 10, 27, 38).
Like Ahaz, we'll not put God to the test: we'll trust in the sign he is sending us in our life: a baby born in a manger.
A meditation written by Marie O'Grady, project manager at St Augustine's Centre, a space for spirituality and education
Follow the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), Province of England and Scotland
Thank you! 77 people prayed
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. Col 4:6