Hello, everyone...I continue to study in the Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament. Such interesting accounts of God's dealings with His chosen people are contained in these books. There are so many spiritual applications which we can find for our lives today.
One of these applications is found in 2 Chronicles 25:5-16. Here, we have King Amaziah of Judah reigning. He decided to gather the men together and form his army for battle. He thought he would be really smart and also hired men from the neighboring kingdom of Israel. However, God had other ideas about who should be in the army of Judah. The prophet at that time, who is only identified as "a man of God," came to the king and said, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel-not with any of the children of Ephraim...Be strong in battle! Even so, God shall make you fall before the enemy..." Whoa! Any time God shows us something like that so clearly, we should pay attention!!!
King Amaziah was concerned with the fact that he had already paid 100 talents to the men of Israel. He, naturally, didn't want to lose the money he had already paid to these men. What if that happened to me? What if I invested my money or time or resources into something, only to find out that God had other plans for me? What would I do? What would you do? Would I be willing to let it all go? Would you?
The "man of God," had some very wise words for the king. "The Lord is able to give you much more than this." Let me repeat-"The Lord is able to give you MUCH MORE than this!!! Wow, let that sink in for a minute. If we remember that God owns everything, and is in charge of everything, we can rest assured that He will take care of us and is able to give us much more than we have lost! With that thought in mind, we can step out in faith, with an obedient heart and trust God for His provision.
King Amaziah DID listen to God in this matter, but not in others. Instead of obeying God here and in the remainder of this account, he obeyed partially. He discharged the soldiers whom he had hired unadvisedly, went to battle and was successful. Then, he seemed to forget God's promises and sinned by bringing back a foreign idol! Anyway, I wonder what God would've done in fulfillment of His promise to give much more than he had lost?
Psalms 37:25-26 says it well-"I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor His descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; and His descendants are blessed." God is able to give us MUCH MORE than we can ask or imagine.
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