“And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.”” — 2 Chronicles 25:9 ESV
You might have heard this illustration before, where a parent returning from work or a trip arrives home and their child is happy to see them. And as a treat, the parent gives the child a bag of sweets. As the child begins to enjoy the treat, the parent asks for some, only for the child to reply, “no, it’s mine”. The child is oblivious to the fact that the parent that gave the treat in the first place has much more to give.
Referring to the illustration, we humans are the children and God is the parent. As Christians sometimes we can be like the selfish child. God blesses us and we think, I worked for this, I earned it, it’s my sweat and effort that brought me this far. When God demands our — money, time, talent or skill — we sometimes want to hold on tight and say, “it’s mine!” Forgetting it’s God who blessed us with the strength, wisdom, grace, wellbeing to achieve and acquire all we have.
The story in 2 Chronicles 25 is about Amaziah king of Judah. He was preparing for battle and to boost his army, he hired 100,000 men of valour from Israel — the Ephraimites for 100 talents of silver. But a man of God approached him and said, “…‘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 your troops 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)
But Amaziah was worried about the money or resources he had invested in the Ephraimites and replied, “… ‘But what about all that silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?’ The man of God replied, ‘The Lord is able to give you much more than this!’” 2 Chronicles 25:9 (NLT)
Is the Lord asking or leading you to walk away from a project you’ve heavily invested in? Or leading you to start a completely new venture outside of your usual competency, expertise, experience or framework? Or is He leading you to bless someone with something you own and is still valuable to you?
Are you considering or looking at what you have achieved and finding it hard to let go? He wants you to release it, so He can bless you with much more.
Although God can do much more for us, our humanness often kicks in when we sense or know the Spirit of God is asking us to make a difficult choice or decision.
In the next blog, we will look at people who had to make tough decisions when led or asked by God.
Stay blessed,
LaraLex
Hills and Valleys 