July 6. 2 Kings 14, 2 Chronicles 25

 

2 Kings 14:2 Amaziah was twenty-five years old at the time, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years… 3 He was a good king in the Lord’s sight, though not quite like his ancestor David; but he was as good a king as his father Joash. 4 However, he…

 

A quick synopsis of this king’s life – he was good, not quite as good as David, but as good as his father was. Oh yea, however… We all have the “however” moments in our lives. Moments when we make a bad choice, we sin etc. So what do you do when the "however's" happen in your life?

Well, Amaziah’s life gives a great snapshot of how to respond to those mistakes, bad choices or blatant sins that seem to find their way into our lives.

His first example and response deals with Amaziah’s use of mercenary troops. He had hired 100,000 troops to augment his troops in preparation for battle against the Edomites and others. But God sent a message and said, send them home, bad choice, do not do that. Amaziah did not like it, but listened and won some battles.

He recognized that these were great victories especially since it went against everything he felt was necessary to win. He showed gratitude and praise towards God by renaming a defeated city to Joktheel, meaning “God subdued it”. He recognized the miracle was because of God, not him or his plan. God received the honor and recognition.

 

2 Kings 14:7 Once Amaziah killed ten thousand Edomites in Salt Valley; he also conquered Sela and changed its name to Joktheel, as it is called to this day.

 

Now after these great defeats, that were only possible because of God, Amaziah messes up again. Like we all do; we do something right and then – grrrr we blow something else. This time Amaziah’s bad choice is met again with God’s message. However this time he reacts differently to God’s message for him:

 

Chronicles 25:20 But Amaziah wouldn’t listen…

 

Those are your choices. Those are anyone’s choices with dealing with sin, bad choices, mistakes etc. God will send His Word, His message to you; you then will either listen to what God has to say about it, or you will not listen to what God has to say about it. We all deal with it. The question is how will you deal with it?

May your life be full of Joktheel moments rather than “however” mistakes.