Isaiah 7:4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
How many friends do you have? Do you have friends or do you have allies? You see, a friend is always an ally, but an ally is not necessarily a friend. A lot of people think they have a lot of friends, but really they have none. They just have working arrangements where if I scratch your back, you scratch mine. They have a lot of allies. Having an ally works well when times are good or if one is trying to manipulate others or is being manipulated.
However, some people think they have no friends, but really they do. It has been said that if you have one, two, or three good, genuine friends, you are a blessed person indeed. That is probably as much or more than the average. So, do you have friends or do you merely have allies?
We think about NATO, which was a vestigial organ until about three days ago, and now everyone is reconsidering that. You have the UN, and whether it is effective of just feckless seems self-evident. Before that we had the League of Nations. After World War I, the League of Nations was doing the same nothing that we see today and the bad guys were doing the same things that were being done before.
In Isaiah 7 you have another group of allies. You have essentially one half of Israel, called Israel, and you have Syria. They had made a confederation, a partnership to go and attack the other half of Israel, called Judah. They wanted Judah to join them against Assyria. Assyria was the big bully coming on the scene. You also had Egypt. So, you had one group of powers pitted against another group of powers, and you had Judah with her king Ahaz who had a choice to make. Would Judah side with these allies or would they side with those allies?
Now, you are not a nation. You are a person, but in the personal realm we can learn something from what God says in Isaiah 7:4. We learn that you need a friend not an ally. In Isaiah 7:4 God says to King Ahaz, “And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet.” He is not just saying, “Shut your mouth.” He is saying, “Have a rest,” kind of like a sigh, a quiet respite.
God says to Ahaz, “Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands [Assyria and half of Israel], for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim [half of Israel], and the son of Remaliah have taken evil counsel against thee.” Then verse 7 says, “Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. “ These enemies of Judah were smoking firebrands, the end of a firebrand. It is almost like a man holding a torch that is about to burn him because it has burned down to such a nub. These kingdoms were themselves about to be consumed and you find that in verse 8 where the Bible tells us that Ephraim, that part of Israel, would be broken.
Then, in verse 9 God says, “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.” This is somewhat rhythmic. You might say, “If you will not confide, you shall not abide.” “Confide” means “confide-ance” or “confidence.” It is a certainly a confidence that you can reveal information to someone who will be your friend and help when you are vulnerable.
Now, Israel needed God, not merely an ally. I’m not speaking to international geopolitics. International geopolitics is basically just an expansion of what you had in your junior high. You do good for me, and I’ll do good for you. The old adage of allies is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That is sheer nonsense when you are talking about you and the people around you. You need a friend, not an ally. There are two reasons why.
First, what is an ally concerned with? He is self-interested. What is a friend interested in? He is interested in you. There is a difference between a friend and an ally because of their intent. A friend is interested in you and an ally is interested in you for what you can give him. So, every friend may ally with what is right in your life, but not every ally is a friend to you.
Also, the longevity is different. Any ally you have today may change tomorrow. Long ago during World War II, the US and the USSR were allies. Were they ever friends? No! The point is not about politics or nations, whether past or current; it is about you. You don’t need an ally, you need a friend. You don’t need an ally, you need the Lord. Your greatest enemy may be the ally that pulls your dependence from God.
Today, put your heart at rest, “fear not, neither be fainthearted.” God is not merely your ally. God is your Lord and He is your friend.