Be firm in the faith.

King Ahaz was weak in the faith, and so he was unwilling to trust God. Even when God through the prophet Isaiah offered him the assurance of any sign he chose, he refused. He got one anyway. “Hear then, O house of David!: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Over seven hundred years later those words from the original prophecy were fulfilled in a new and unexpected way. Where Ahaz had been weak, Mary was strong; she accepted the angelic pronouncement made in her visitation; she was willing to bear the Son of God. Where Ahaz had been fearful, Joseph was courageous; he willingly shouldered the responsibility accorded him in his dream.

Today, if we are not firm in the faith, we will not be firm at all. Let us remain willing to trust God. He gave us his beloved son; He will surely give us all things.