Skip to main content

Isaiah – week 5

Captain’s Log, Stardate 01.20.2007

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
Reclaiming Nick by Susan May Warren
Fatal Image by Lenora Worth

Win books and an iPod Nano! Contest ends January 31st. Get more info on my contest page!

Blog Bible Study: Isaiah 7:1 – 8:22

This verse struck me:

(God speaking) “Unless your faith is firm,
I cannot make you stand firm.”
Isaiah 7:9b

King Ahaz of Judah didn’t believe Isaiah’s prophecy. He either didn’t believe that Isaiah heard God or that God was really speaking.

Do I hear God speaking? Do I slow down enough to listen? Maybe the reason I think God isn’t talking is because I’m too busy running around to stop and ask.

God can’t make me believe. He can’t make me slow down to listen. He can’t make me stop and ask. I need to do that myself, to make it a priority.

“Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.”
Isaiah 7:11

The study asked what this reveals about God’s character. I think it shows that God wants us to act to show that we truly believe Him. He wanted Ahaz to act, to ask for a sign, which would show that Ahaz truly believed God would do what He had said He’d do with Syria and Israel.

I think sometimes God does the same with me—asking me to act to show I truly believe. Sometimes He gives me a sign, but sometimes I have to act before He gives me a sign.

How about you? Do you ever feel sometimes like you have to act before He affirms your decision, or has He always spoken to you before you act?

Comments

Anonymous said…
There are a lot of time when I have to take that leap of faith first. Maybe it's because I'm such a wimp who's afraid of the unknown and God is showing me that I need to strengthen my faith in Him and in myself. (well, that's just the way I like to think of it, lol)
What a thought provoking post. Thanks for sharing :o)
Anonymous said…
Both I think. Depends on the situation. I love it when God does both--gives you confirmation to go forward, then gives you affirmation as you continue. He's so cool.
Anonymous said…
i'm just now reading your post, been away at a youth camp all weekend long and reading what you wrote really served to cement much of want GOD revealed to me. Last year I really wanted a sign from God for confirmation about a decision, but I kept coming to the verses in the New Testament about not seeking a sign. For this new year something has crept into the framing of life that once again needs confirmation, and reading what you write Camy, opened my eyes to the other side of signs from God. SO thank you!!

Popular Posts

Poll for the title of my book!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is The Wedding Caper by Janice Thompson . My Monday book giveaway is Thanks for the Mammogram! AND Reconstructing Natalie , both by Laura Jensen Walker . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on the blog posts above . On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for The Wedding Caper and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Pick my title! The Zondervan Marketing Department is torn about which title would be best for my debut novel. So you guys get to weigh in! Here are your choices: Solo Sushi Sushi for One Single Sushi Solo Sashimi Leave a comment about which you prefer and WHY. I’ll run this poll for a couple weeks to figure out which will be the title for my new book! TMI: Writing: I posted another "Health and the Writer" post at WriterQuotes , and an agent post at my Story Sensei blog . And in case you missed it, my review of The Guy I’m Not Dating by Trish Perry is ...

Mansfield Park (BBC 1986)

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Valley of Betrayal by Tricia Goyer It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer Jane Austen miniseries I love Jane Austen. She’s my favorite classic writer, and I even bought audiobooks of her novels and listen to them again and again. I also love Amazon.com and visit my Gold Box every day (not that I buy that often). One day I had a deal for the entire set of DVDs of miniseries produced by BBC of Jane Austen’s novels. No, I didn’t buy the set—but it made me curious, and so I put the miniseries on my Netflix queue. The miniseries are all rather old. I just finished Mansfield Park . I’m quite divided on it. Costumes: score 4. They were mostly really rather nice, appropriate to the character’s background and income, and not too flamboyant, although there were several places the women’s headgear was just way over the top. Acting: score 4. I l...

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th...

Mon afghan

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.24.2009 I am extraordinarily proud of this. For Christmas, I wanted to knit something for my parents that would be really cool and personal, and sort of an heirloom. So I took the five family crests I had for my family (in Japanese, a family crest is called a “mon”) and graphed the designs on knitting graph paper so that I could knit intarsia panels of the mons. I knit 5 intarsia panels and 4 plain panels and then sewed them together to make an afghan. In Japan, family crests are carried by both male and female, so I used mons from both my parents' sides. Traditionally, mons are passed down from mother to daughter and from father to son, but there are sometimes cases of a son taking a mother’s mon or a husband taking his wife’s family’s mon and things like that. I know we have more than 5 family crests, but we’ve lost some of them. My mom tried to find them all several years ago, but could only find these five. The fans mon was actually...

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci...