Righting our Plans

“And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.” (2Chronicles 25:9)

In those days, there were two kingdoms, Judah and Israel. Amaziah became king of Judah at twenty-five years. He hired 300,000 men to be his soldiers to fight the Edomites. And above that he hired 100,000 from Israel and paid them a hundred talents of silver which amounts to about $37,000 plus the plunder of the Edomites. But a prophet warns Amaziah. The Scripture doesn’t tell us who this prophet is, only to say he was a man of God. This anonymous prophet warns Amaziah not to use the troops from Israel because God is not with Israel and would cause them to be defeated. (2 Chronicles 25:1-7) This is where our Scripture of study begins.

If Amaziah were to let the troops he hired from Israel go, he’d lose the hundred talents of silver he had already paid them. How many of us have trapped ourselves in something when we’ve gone ahead and done things on our own without consulting the Lord? We may lose money or lose face, but when we find out our error, we must pull out or withdraw, embarrassing ourselves. I know I have. I’ve withdrawn from some situations, but I’ve also gone ahead on other situations. There is great regret when one goes ahead doing what one has planned regardless of the Lord’s warning. There are consequences that one may suffer because we didn’t listen to the Lord.

Amaziah wasn’t worried about being embarrassed. He was concerned for the money he’d paid them. Sometimes we don’t want to withdraw our plans because we’ve invested time, energy, effort or money. If we withdraw, we lose that. Also, if we have involved others in our plans, they will lose out if we withdraw. So, there’s that consideration. Amaziah listens to the warning from the Lord and lets the troops from Israel go. “Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.” (2Chronicles 25:10) And although Amaziah made the right choice and had a great victory over Edom, the troops from Israel were very angry with him and raided Judah on their way home. (2 Chronicles 25:13)

Some may see this as a lose-lose situation because if Amaziah had chosen to keep the troops from Israel, he would have lost the battles against Edom. But he let the troops go and they raided Judah. The raid on Judah was a consequence of not consulting with the Lord and hiring the troops from Israel in the first place. Sometimes when we withdraw from a situation, we may suffer some consequences because of our first bad decision, even though we changed our direction.

Regardless of the consequences of withdrawing or pulling out of our determined plans, we must retreat. The Lord doesn’t warn us for nothing. Some consequences may affect our lives for a short time, some for the rest of our lives. We need to be praying that our eyes and ears will be open to the voice of the Lord, that we will hear and that we will obey. The Israelites refused to listen to the voice of God in the wilderness and wandered for forty years. They never got to see the promised land. (Numbers 13, 14:1-38) The book of Hebrews warns us also to listen to the Holy Spirit. “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not?” (Hebrews 3:7-18) They paid a great price for their fear and unbelief.

Sometimes we don’t want to change our plans for the same reasons the Hebrews didn’t want to take the land and listened to the ten spies instead of obeying God. We are fearful of the unknown. What God is requiring us to do may seem harder or more fearful than going on with our own plans. Right away we can see this is wrong. But in a situation, it’s hard to see our way out and easier to just go along with what we have determined. It takes courage and resolve to follow the Lord. We must predetermine now that no matter what, we will follow the Lord and obey. That is the right choice, even if we suffer the consequences of making the right choice, God will be on our side to help us.