2 Kings 14 -- When Personality Undoes Faith

My commentary said, "The history recorded here ... reeks of selfish intrigue, bloodshed, moral decay, and repeated rebellion against the law of the Lord ... Not one king of Israel encouraged his people to repent and seek the Lord, and in Judah, Amaziah and Uzziah both committed acts of arrogant ambition that brought judgment from God."

"Amaziah made an excellent beginning, but he later abandoned the Lord ... Had he continued to obey God's Word, his life and reign would have been much different."

His sins included unbelief, idolatry, and pride.  For example, he failed to trust the Lord with his 300,000 man army and paid Israel for 100,000 mercenaries.  God sent a prophet to tell him the hired mercenaries would only bring defeat.  Amaziah argued with the prophet about the will of God!  He did send the mercenaries home and lost the 4 tons of silver he'd paid to use them.  But after the victory, Amaziah took idols from the vanquished army back to Israel, even after these gods had been defeated!  "Inflated by his great success and unconcerned about his great sin, Amaziah looked for other worlds to conquer and decided to challenge Joash, king of Israel ... The truly humble person sees things as God sees them and doesn't live on illusions.  Pride blinds to mind, distorts the vision, and so inflates the ego that the person can't tell truth from fiction."

"Amaziah was presented with great opportunities and experienced great help from the Lord, but he was a double-minded man who didn't wholeheartedly serve the Lord.  He had his own agenda and didn't take time to seek the mind of the Lord."

Father, right now I'm waiting on You to direct me in this new stage of my life.  I feel like I've heard from You and I'm proceeding based on that, but I want to be sure.  Please open my eyes and my heart to Your will for my life now.  I want to be doing what You want me to be doing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford