Reading Isaiah 7

King Ahaz is threatened by an alliance between the northern kingdom of Israel and Aram. They are about to attack but the LORD sends word through Isaiah that the attack will not happen and he should "be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid" (v.4).

He tells him to trust:
"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." (v.9)

The LORD tells Ahaz to ask for a test but he will not:
"'I will not put the LORD to the test'" (v.12)
(appears on one level to be a sensible, 'righteous' thing to say, but not when you're going against what God has told you...)

Isaiah tells him he is testing God's patience and the LORD is going to give them a sign anyway. He prophecies a child born of a virgin and named 'Immanuel' (God with us).

He tells him that the two kingdoms that threatened Judah will be laid waste, but that God would bring his own judgement in the form of the Assyrians.

Isaiah says that Judah will be settled by 'flies' and 'bees' from Egypt and Assyria, that the rich farmland would be trampled and Judah humilated ("the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River - the king of Assyria - to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also." v.20).

2 Kings tells us that instead of trusting God, Ahaz tried to buy aid from the Assyrians and they invade the northern kingdom, Israel, (2 Kings 16:7-9).

So, because he does not trust God, Ahaz brings about his own downfall (although Judah survives a few more kings before falling to Assyria and Egypt).