Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 25:1-28
Helpful thoughts:
- “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7
- Verse 2 gives us a window into the realities of the rest of the chapter.
- Amaziah obeyed the Lord at great cost to him on the way to battle against the Edomites, only to return worshipping the gods of the people who were just defeated. This was an act even the pagan kings did not practice. Logic does not make a person submit to the Lord, the one true God.
- The gods of Edom could not protect Judah from an idolatrous Israel. The true God of Israel and Judah used an idolatrous Israel to bring discipline on Judah, whose king was worshipping the gods of Edom. If that sounds confusing, it’s because sin does that to any situation. But, God was/is never confused.
Questions to consider:
- What is the difference between doing religion as a means to an end and religion that proceeds from a sincere heart of reverence and worship? What right or wrong thinking goes into either and what fruits result?
- In what ways are we tempted today to worship the “gods” of the nations who have never succeeded in making the world victorious, happy or fulfilled? What makes the gods of our day seem so “reasonable,” even when they never work?
- Amaziah relied on foreign gods and soldiers to win his battles, but who has already won our battle? Who is our champion? How does our settled victory in Christ encourage and strengthen us in midst of our lives?