Thursday, April 7, 2011

Power to Help or Overthrow

May the Lord hide his followers “from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows . . . per Psalm 64. God can and often does take 'em down suddenly and with poetic justice, with their own tongues turned against them.” And He can do it without any help from you and me!

2 Chronicles 25
illustrates the monumental truth that God has the power to help -- or to overthrow. Sometimes our job is as simple watching His justice play out. This passage contains the factual account of a Hebrew king who was serious about his goals. He had a war to fight, and had even hired mercenaries to march with his army. The only problem: God wasn't in on the plan! A prophet warned and encouraged him with words that still ring true:

But a man of God came to him and said,
“ . . . Even if you go and fight courageously in battle,
God will overthrow you before the enemy,
for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”

Amaziah asked the man of God,
“But what about the hundred talents I paid
for these Israelite troops?”

The man of God replied,
“The LORD can give you much more than that.”
- from 2 Chronicles 25:7-9

May we not doubt God's power, nor count the cost! Let us not be concerned with what we could lose, but count it a joy to lay claim to the promise that the LORD can give us more, so much, much more than anything we could lose for following Him.

God says, “Be still, and know that I am God . . . ” (Psalm 46:10). Let's listen!

P.S. See also, Job 12:14-16