[Discoveries] 10-30-07 Graduate level testing -- 2 Chronicles 25:20

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that He might 
hand them over to Jeohash, because they sought the gods of Edom. -- 2 
Chronicles 25:20*/

God doesn't trust just anybody to lead His people. Sooner or later he 
will put that leader to the test, and that test will reveal the 
character of the leader.

King Amaziah is a case in point. About 130 years after the nation of 
Israel divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern 
kingdom of Judah, Amaziah becomes king of Judah. He attempts to 
consolidate his power by hiring a mercenary army from the northern 
kingdom of Israel to help him regain control of the nearby nation of Edom.

Wrong move! A prophet instructs King Amaziah to release these 100,000 
mercenaries, forfeiting the almost four tons of silver the king paid to 
hire them. Amaziah dismisses the mercenaries and they are ticked! So, 
while Amaziah and his men are fighting Edom, the dismissed soldiers raid 
the towns of Judah, kill 3,000 people and carry off plunder.

What a mess! Amaziah's obedience, it seemed, brings both victory and 
defeat, both honor and tragedy.

This is the kind of gauntlet that great men and women of God pass 
through. Will they trust God when God doesn't make sense?

Amaziah's answer, regrettably, is no. He rejects God, turns to the gods 
of defeated Edom, tries to pick a fight with the northern Kingdom of 
Israel, loses, accomplishes nothing more worth mentioning, and dies of 
assassination.

What went wrong? I believe God was giving Amaziah the opportunity to 
become one of the greatest kings of all time. But when Amaziah's cards 
were dealt, he played them poorly, running away from God rather than 
running toward Him.

If you are a leader of a family, a ministry, a church and the heat is 
on, please understand that God wants you to succeed. You may be 
experiencing graduate level testing, but God wants to skim off all the 
impurities that surface and make you into the man or woman of God He 
designed you to be.

Be encouraged!
Dwight

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