For God’s Love

Perfectly According To Plan

12.21.25 [Isaiah 7:1-14] River of Life (4th Sunday in Advent)

Has your life gone perfectly according to plan? Of course not!

Sometimes, we look back at our plans and laugh at how silly they now look and sound with the benefit of some hindsight. We’re glad that things didn’t go according to plan. 

But other times, we can’t help but cry. The plans were good. The work we put in was up to par. But, for whatever reason, things didn’t go according to plan. 

So often, we underestimate the number of things that can and will go wrong. We run over budget, behind schedule, or get in over our head. Other times, we misjudge the people who are an integral part of our plan. We put them in positions they can’t or won’t come through on. We think they’re reliable or trustworthy or qualified and then they turn out not to be. Stirred in with all that underestimated and misjudging is more than our fair share of events and circumstances we never anticipated. Really, when you think about it, it’s amazing that anything ever goes according to plan. Who could claim their lives have gone perfectly according to plan? 

I doubt Ahaz would have made that claim. Really, almost nothing had gone according to plan since he became king. As soon as the crown was placed on his head, his neighboring kings wanted to know his plans. Israel and Aram wanted to form a coalition to defend themselves against the superpower to the north, known as Assyria. 

Ahaz refused and his kingdom suffered great losses. 120,000 men were killed in battle. Another 200,000 would have been carried off as POWs if the Lord had not intervened and ordered Israel to send them back home. Tensions were rising in Judah. Ahaz needed a new plan. 

So Ahaz, this mouse that was being hassled by two rats, sought an ally in the alley cat of Assyria, a brutal and fierce superpower. He asked for protection and sent gifts of gold and silver. 2 Kg 16:7 I’m your servant and vassal. Come up and save us.   

It’s at this point that God sends his prophet Isaiah to speak with Ahaz. The Lord knows Judah is shaken. Ahaz is scared. So Isaiah tells them: Is 7:4 Keep calm. Don’t be afraid. I’ll save you. Israel and Aram won’t destroy you. They’re smoldering firewood. I’ll destroy them. Trust me. Is 7:9 If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. If you trust the alley cat, you’ll be dessert.

That should have been assurance enough. But Ahaz still preferred his plan of aligning himself with Assyria to trusting in the Lord alone. He was leaning on his own understanding of how to best navigate this military crisis. So the Lord adds another good word and makes Ahaz a unique offer. Is 7:10 Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights. It’s wide open. Ask me to show you my power and my commitment to you in any way that you see fit and I’ll do it. 

But Ahaz says I will not ask. I will not up the Lord to the test. It sounds pious, but God is not fooled by Ahaz’s carefully crafted reply. He knows that Ahaz has other plans and isn’t interested in God’s.

Does that response strike you as strange? Why wouldn’t Ahaz take God up on his offer? Why would he refuse a sign and test God’s patience? 

Now you and I have never received an offer like that from the Lord.  We also have never faced stress or pressure Ahaz did in this moment.

But in this moment, there are three things we ought to see. The first is a subtle shift in pronouns. In v. 10, Isaiah refers to the Lord as Ahaz’s God. He assumes Ahaz has a weak faith and is struggling to stand in it. But in v. 13 he says Will you try the patience of my God also? 

Ahaz did not trust that God is the Sovereign LORD. That trust is the critical difference between faith and faithlessness. As the king of Judah, Ahaz knew all the stories about how the Lord had delivered Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David from far worse predicaments. But Ahaz did not trust that the Lord would do it for him—despite God’s promise. Instead, he looked to his own ingenuity & negotiating tactics to save himself. The path of self-reliance is a slippery slope to separation from God. The devil will gladly usher the person who believes in themselves into a state of total unbelief. 

Secondly, do you see how disobedience tries to cloak itself in piety? It is very clear what God wants Ahaz to do. But he comes up with a fine-sounding way of denying God’s Word. We face that temptation too!

We cloak the disobedience of gossip in the pious mask of just warning others so that they don’t get hurt too. We cloak the disobedience of worship truancy in the pious robes of assurances that we pray every day or that we just have too much going on in our lives and that when things slow down we’ll make it more of a priority. We disguise the disobedience of dishonoring those in authority in the garments of we’re only exercising our 1st amendment rights or vows that we would honor and respect them if they were doing the things that God wanted them to do.  

Maybe, most disgracefully of all, we hide our unbelief in the power of God’s Word. When we’re afraid or worried, sad or overwhelmed, we turn to every other source for comfort or guidance or joy or direction. We’ll shop beyond our means, we’ll eat or drink far more than is healthy, we’ll binge our favorite shows or scroll on our phones—but never crack open our Bibles. We’ll take advice from friends, neighbors, and professionals who laugh at our trust in the Sovereign Lord, instead of trusting in the Lord’s promises to provide all we need for body and life, to work out all things for our eternal good, and to always be with us to the very end of the age.

God’s warning to all is simple. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. And when we choose the path of unfaithfulness, our disobedience sabotages the people around us, too, just as it did for Ahaz. Our plans wreck more than just our lives. 

Yet, we think, wouldn’t it be great if God made this offer to us, too? 

He has. That’s what’s so remarkable. Throughout our lives, we have tried the patience of our God in so many ways. Yet Ex 34:6 the Lord our God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and faithfulness. God’s been patient with you, because he wants to save you. He will not change the Law’s demands, but in Isaiah 7 he promises that he will meet them. Perfectly according to plan.

This sign clarifies God’s plan of salvation, the one first laid out in Gen 3 to self-reliant Adam and Eve. They thought they could become like God. So he banished them from paradise, and gave them a taste of the self-reliant life they craved.

But he was still compassionate. He gave them a sign. He promised a Redeemer, the seed of the woman would deliver them from sin, death, and the devil. In order to rescue us, God said he would become one of us, one with us. He would take on flesh and blood and live like we live. He would grow tired and hungry. God became with us to wage war against our enemies. Christ’s life was quite ordinary. He would enter this world as a helpless infant. The Son of God was born of a woman and under the law. He would leave it as a powerless offender. He died shamefully, under the burden of our sins. Despite all our attempts to go it alone, God is with us. That has always been his plan. 

And God’s plan has the power to change our plans for the best. In John 4, we’re introduced to a woman whose life had not gone according to plan. She’d been married five times. She was now living with a man she wasn’t married to and her life was a mess. Six different men told her she wasn’t a part of their plan for their lives. She did her best to make do—avoiding the other women in town and trying to ignore all the shame and guilt she felt. Then something she didn’t plan happened. The Immanuel met her at the local well. He asked her for a drink and then offered her his abiding, eternal love. 

That woman was blown away by Jesus’ sign. Jesus knew her and loved her. God knows you this well too. He knows you better than your spouse or your children or even you yourself do. And he loves you. Loved you enough to become flesh and suffer the pains of hell just to be with you. Do you know that means? 

That means, even if your life has not gone according to your plans, it has gone perfectly according to God’s plan. What is that plan? Well we can summarize it in a word—Immanuel. God is with you. Eph. 1:4 God planned your salvation before creation. God is with you even before you took breath. Through water and Word, God set up shop in your heart and in your life. God is with you before you did anything righteous. Through the Lord’s Supper, God sustains you for the days ahead. God is with you, ruling all things for your good. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is with you. To the very end of the age. 

Is it any surprise that the God who died for all your sins wants you to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Let’s make this change clearer. If you bought a house, would you let the old owner keep the master bedroom? Of course not! So why would God want sin to rule over us any longer? He redeemed you. Bought all of you with his precious lifeblood. Your body, your soul, your mind, & your strength. Why should he settle for anything less than your best? In our hearts, we create plans. The Lord establishes his perfect plan. 

So love God and your neighbor this Christmas. What does that look like? Loving the Lord is seeking to know him and his will better and better. Searching the Scriptures and praying continually. Trusting him instead of leaning on our own intuition and preferences. Loving God is praising him for the opportunity to celebrate his birth on Christmas Eve and Day. Centering your time, talents, and treasures on Christ. 

Loving your neighbor means being concerned about their salvation. Praying for the needs of our community. Praying that God would use you to bring comfort to the afflicted. Loving your neighbor means going out of your way, outside your comfort zone, and inviting that neighbor, that coworker, that friend to learn about the God who is with us, Immanuel. This is God’s plan. This is God’s perfect plan for you. Immanuel! God be with you! Amen.