Ahaz and Joseph have very different degrees of openness to God.
Ahaz has a sign from God right in front of
him, and he refuses to give his attention to it. Isaiah, God’s prophet, says “ask a sign from
God,” and he says “NO THANKS.”
For Joseph, He can find God’s voice even in
the less likely places – his dreams. A
vision is a vision, but it would have been easy to write it off as a
dream. But he doesn’t.
The difference between Ahaz and Joseph likely
stems from their very different images of who God is.
Perhaps Ahaz sees God as a tyrant, who really
doesn’t care about us. Or, maybe God is someone who will only take care of us
in very rare circumstances, if we first are living a holy and upright life or
do other specific things to win his favor.
Maybe for Ahaz God is someone who wants us to take care of everything on
our own, and is very distant from us, refusing to get involved.
For Joseph, God is present and active in his
life. God is Emmanuel - “God with us”
Do we expect God to be present and active in
our lives?
Do we think God is with us?
Or more like He was with us?
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