Faithfulness in Times of Distress (2 Chronicles 28:22)

In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz.
—2 Chronicles 28:22

Wow, what a commentary on King Ahaz’s life. In the time of his distress, like when things were not going well, when the nation of Judah was struggling, King Ahaz became yet more faithless to the Lord. And you read his story, not just faithless, but idolatrous and immoral.

When I read 2 Chronicles 28:22, I think, God, help me in times of distress to be faithful, more faithful, more full of faith. And if we’re not careful enough, in each one of our lives, when we go through challenges and difficulties, there is an adversary who wants to make us think that God is not good, that God’s not powerful, that God’s not wise, that God is not listening to our prayers or going to answer our prayers. And there’s so many different ways that adversary attacks faith in times of distress.

And I just want to encourage you, especially if you’re in the middle of distress now or at any point in the days to come, let’s pray that God would help us to be all the more faithful. These are the moments we need more faith, not less faith; more trust in the faithfulness of God, more trust in the goodness, the power, and the wisdom of God, and the reality that we know is God hears and answers our prayers according to his wisdom and his power and his love, and that he’s working all things together for our good.

So I don’t obviously know what kind of distress you might be going through right now, you might be coming out of, or you or I might go through in the days to come. But let’s pray, God, help us to become yet more faithful in times of distress.

We pray, ask, oh God, that you would keep us from becoming yet more faithless like King Ahaz did here. And God, I pray especially for people who are walking through distress right now, challenges in different ways. I pray that even as they listen, your word would wash over them. You would remind them of your faithfulness to them, your love for them, your wisdom that’s far higher than our ways and what we think is best, your power that is working on their behalf to bring all this together for their good as they trust, as they walk by faith in you.

And God, I pray that you would build faith in times of distress. In my life and every single one of our lives, we pray that distress would lead to deeper faith. God, we ask for this.

And God, we thank you for this. We thank you that you don’t leave us alone in distress, that you walk with us, that you provide for us, for all your promises that we can cling to in distress. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A Prayer for the Vafsi People

God, we pray for people who don’t have that confidence, who don’t have that hope, who don’t have these promises, who don’t have your word. God, we pray specifically today for the Vafsi people of Iran, for this small people group in Iran, 24,100% Muslim. God, we pray, we pray that they would be reached with the good news of your faithfulness in Jesus, to send your Son to die on the cross for their sin so they might have life in you, so they may be able to walk with you through distress in this world and be saved from death, ultimately, to experience eternal life in you.

God, we pray that over the Vafsi of Iran, even as we pray that you would help us to live with ever-deepening faith, particularly through times of distress. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.