2 Chronicles 25:9

New International Version (NIV)

The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”

For meditation

Sometimes we worry unnecessarily; seriously. God’s word comes to us very clearly. We know it’s His will and we know we have to comply; yet, we balk. A thousand questions parade through our minds, and we’re not sure about anything anymore.

“Is it really from the Lord?”

O, but you just read or hear it yourself.

“What if …?”

Are you serious? Does not the One who has spoken, know all things and is able to take care of the result?

“What about the time and all the money I have spent already?”

 You must be joking! Who gave you the time and ability to make wealth? Isn’t it all His anyway? Is He not able to give you much more?

After gathering his troops from Judah and Benjamin against the forces of Seir, King Amaziah hired a hundred thousand troops from Israel for a hundred talents of silver (2 Chron. 25:5-6). God rejected the troops from Israel and asked the king to send them back or lose the war. The man of God was very clear about this (7-8). However, the king balked. The money was more important than God’s word.

“But what about the hundred talents I paid for those Israelite troops?”

“The Lord is able to give you much more than that,” the man of God said (9).

This is a lesson every child of God must learn very quickly, if we are serious about obedience. Our decisions must not be based on what we stand to lose or what may or may not happen. God has that. Rather, God’s nature, and His ultimate glory, should weigh heavier than any consideration. First, He is God Almighty, the One who alone deserves glory and honor from our lives (1 Cor. 10:31). Second, He knows what is good for us in every situation (Matt. 7:11). Third, He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). These should be enough encouragement to arrest our apprehensions and leave us with His peace about His word.

The Bible presents us with many doubting, hesitant, foot-dragging saints, and others who just sought to avoid compliance. But God seeks absolute obedience. He can take our questioning, as King Amaziah did, because He knows our frailty. However, we shouldn’t forget that He knows our hearts and motives when we interrogate His word (Ps. 44:21; Heb. 4:12-13). Our faith must rise above the clouds of doubt and fear, under the wings of godly convictions, and land us in the land of absolute obedience in the Holy Spirit’s powers.

Nothing given away for the obedience of God’s word will ever be in vain.

Shalom