The nation of Judah faced an impending invasion from two neighboring nations. This threat left them shaking like the trees in the forest in a windstorm (Is 7:2). So King Ahaz made an alliance with an even larger nation—Assyria—rather than run to the Holy One, God Almighty (2 Kings 16:5–7).

Then God gave Ahaz and Judah a promise, a sign, a reminder that he had not abandoned them and they should rely on him alone.

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Immanuel—God is with us! Of course this jumped out at me since with is my word for 2023. Imagine my delight when this showed up a few more times in the text.

[The king of Assyria will] sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel! Devise your strategy; but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Isaiah 8:8, 10 NIV emphasis added

Through the symbolic name of a child soon to be born, Isaiah illustrated God’s presence with his people. 700 years later, the Apostle Matthew used Isaiah’s words to explain God’s presence with us in the form of another baby—Jesus Christ.

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 1:21–23 NIV emphasis added

Both Isaiah and Matthew remind me that when trouble comes, when the enemy threatens, I cannot trust in leaders, the military, strategies, or even my efficient plans (like Ahaz did).

Rather, I need to rely on God for he is with me. With me in the form of a baby. But this baby is the God of Angel Armies, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace (Is 9:6). God is with me as he was with Ahaz and Judah.

Practically, this means I push pause on my fear and scenario-making. I tell myself (verbally if necessary) God is with me (Immanuel). Isaiah illustrates further how to do this:

• Keep calm and don’t be afraid nor lose heart (7:4)
• Stand firm in faith—believe (7:9)
• Don’t fear what others fear (8:12)
• Regard God as holy and fear him (8:13)
• Wait for the Lord and trust in him (8:17)
• Inquire of God and consult him (8:19–20)
• Choose to not look at the darkness and gloom but rather the light (8:22–9:2)
• Rejoice in the Lord (9:3)
• Rely on the Son who is called “an-extraordinary-counselor-is-the-warrior-God, the-everlasting-Father-is-an-officer-for-well-being” (9:6, translation by John Goldingay)¹

Who or what do you run to first when trouble comes?

What does trusting God look like practically for you?

PRAYER

Lord God, thank you for being with me—always. Help me to remember to run to you first when the next trouble comes (and it will) and not to leaders or strategies or whatever seems bigger than what I face. For you—my extraordinary counselor, my warrior God, my eternal Father, the source of my whole well-being—are bigger still. I stand firm believing you.

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¹John Goldingay, Isaiah For Everyone (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015), 42.

Thank you, Amy Cedrone, for inspiring these thoughts.