How does God use threatening circumstances to refine our faith? Isaiah 7 is the story of Ahaz, the king of misplaced faith. He refused to believe the promises of God and instead put his trust in his own devices (Assyria). God offers a sign of the validity of His promise but Ahaz preferred to trust in a pagan king and his army rather than to trust the Word of God. The threatening circumstances revealed the truth about Ahaz' faith and Ahaz did not respond by turning to God in repentance for his unbelief.

The fact is we cannot hide the truth about ourselves for long. Eventually the mask will slip and the real you will be seen. What God wants is for you to take the mask off and entrust who you really are to Him. He wants you to trust Him so much that you can be totally honest with Him and others because of the security you have in His love for you. 1 John 4:16 says, και ημεις εγνωκαμεν και πεπιστευκαμεν την αγαπην ην εχει ο θεος εν ημιν ο θεος αγαπη εστιν και ο μενων εν τη αγαπη εν τω θεω μενει και ο θεος εν αυτω.

That is, "We have come to know and have come to believe the love which the God has in us. God is love and the one abiding in the love in the God abides and the God in him." Perhaps it would help to translate the verb pisteuo (believe) "trust". "We have come to know and to trust the love which the God has in us..." How would such a state of being manifest itself? It would be manifest in some very clear ways. If we came to know and trust the love which "the God", that is "the Father" has for us we would live with a deep and profound sense of being loved by the most important person in the universe and in our lives. Such a condition would give us peace, amazing peace, gratitude, overwhelming gratitude, joy unspeakable, etc. Our emotional state would be impacted and then our decisions and actions would begin to reflect this new emotional foundation. Our emotions are "the symphony of the soul" and you can't help but enjoy this glorious music.