"Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!" // Isaiah 7:11
“Ahaz, he’s an idiot!” Father said it in jest, rifling through the lectionary quickly reviewing day’s readings. It was the end of the semester, we were all a little slap happy, and we thus found his assessment of Ahaz’s response utterly hilarious.
To this day, I cannot read this reading without remembering that encounter. I still hear Father’s voice declaring Ahaz an idiot, and it still elicits a certain amount of amusement! Yet, I can’t help but think, “Well, he wasn’t wrong . . .”
God: “Ahaz, ask for a sign.”
Ahaz: “Who, me? Ask for a sign? Oh, no, I couldn’t. I would never" (see Isaiah 7:10-14).
Then, I think of myself, how often do I echo Ahaz’s words, or at least his attitude? How many times do I experience the Lord offering His heart and delicately demure in seeming humility?
We have a Father in Heaven Who desires to give us the world; He has in fact done so from the very beginning. And we, from the beginning, have been going our own way, reaching for the fruit, trying to get to Heaven without God, imitating the people at the Tower of Babel, and lacking in trust when what God promised didn’t come right away like Moses’ famous double hit at the rock. Like Ahaz, we refuse to ask for what God promises to give and freely offers.
Contrast that to Our Lady who said, “How shall this be . . . . Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done unto me” (Luke 1:37-38).
Sister, trust the Lord when He tells you to ask for what you need. There is nothing you could ask of Him that is greater than what He has already promised and given! Dig deep, believe, ask, and let it be deep as the netherworld or high as the sky (Isaiah 7:11)!
Trust the Lord when He tells you to ask for what you need. // Sister Maria FatimaClick to tweet
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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