He’s not exactly a well-known name, even among the kings of Judah. He was even fairly young (by our standards) when the story unfolded…maybe early 30′s. His name was King Amaziah. And he has an important lesson to teach us (or at least me).
Early in his reign as king he starts to get his house in order. He takes care of the men who assassinated his father and then he starts assembling his army. But as the count comes in he finds that he’s a little shy of the numbers he was hoping for (he only has about 300,000 fighting). So he does the “prudent thing” and hires another 100,000 men to boost his numbers…and spends a no small sum of 7,500 pounds of silver to make it happen (about $4.5 million in today’s value).
It’s a good business plan. It made sense then and it makes sense now. We very often do the sound, business thing even today. We look at this plan and there’s nothing wrong with it. Except…
A man of God comes to King Amaziah and tells him:
Your majesty, do not hire troops from Israel, for the Lord is not with Israel. He will not help those people of Ephraim! If you let them go with you into battle, you will be defeated by the enemy no matter how well you fight. God will overthrow you, for he has the power to help you or to trip you up. (2 Chronicles 25:7-8, NLT)
And here’s the first lesson in the story…ask God before you act! If King Amaziah had asked God what to before he acted, God would have saved him some cold, hard cash. But the king did what he thought was right and it ends up costing him. Speaking of the cash…it’s the first thing on the king’s mind as he hears this advice from the prophet…so he asks the question we would ask…
Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about all the silver I paid to hire the army if Israel?” (2 Chronicles 25:9a, NLT)
That’s what I would have asked. It’s what any elder board would ask. Hey, I’ve already spent the money so what do we do about that? Should we waste it all or press on and hope God covers our mistake? Too often we press forward and expect God to follow our plan. King Amaziah certainly doesn’t want to just blow 7,500 pounds of silver…but here’s the answer…
The man of God replied, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this!” (2 Chronicles 25:8b, NLT)
And there’s the lesson for me…don’t worry about the cash. God has plenty of it and He doesn’t need me to tell Him how to manage it. I’m His steward. It’s my job to be obedient…even after I’ve been stupid. God will see us through…but only if we continue to follow His plan…not ours!
And King Amaziah does the smart thing. He walks away from the cash and the additional forces. And God comes through with flying colors…as He always does. Sometime the “prudent thing” isn’t a “God thing”. We need to ask God first and then follow the plan we get…no matter how insane it might seem to us. He’s God…we’re not…it works!
Post Tags: 2 CHronicles, Faith, King Amaziah
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