King Amaziah’s life story can be found in 2 Chronicles 25 and is summed up in verse 2: He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but not wholeheartedly. If you read through verse 9, you will see an example of this lack of wholeheartedness.
Basically, Amaziah is preparing his troops for battle. But just to be on the safe side, he hires some extra soldiers. Then a man of God says he better rethink that strategy. God is not with the hired help. He tells Amaziah “Even if you go and fight courageously, God will overthrow you.” Amaziah’s response: But what about the money I paid them?
I see 2 examples of Amaziah’s lack of wholeheartedness here.
1) He played it safe: Amaziah knew that God was calling him to fight and win this battle. But just to be on the safe side, he decided he needed a little bit bigger army. But really he didn’t. God didn’t need the extra soldiers to be victorious.
2) He worried about his safe investment: When he got called out, Amaziah’s first response wasn’t to worry about God not being with him but rather the money he had payed all the soldiers in playing it safe.
I like to think I always follow God wholeheartedly but sometimes, I’m like Amaziah. I play it safe with God. I start trying to take control…just in case God doesn’t come through. Then God reminds me that he never leaves a promise unfulfilled. Just like with Amaziah, he reminds me that when I take control, no matter how hard I fight, he will not be with me. Yet my mind immediately goes to all the time I invested, all the energy I invested, all the money I invested in my own plans, in my own solutions.
Like Amaziah, sometimes I see where I’m at and I see where God wants me to go. And the battle of getting from one to the other is where God requires the most trust, the most faith. But instead of following wholeheartedly, I back down. I see my weaknesses instead of God’s strengths. I get anxious when things aren’t happening fast enough. Instead of being patient and waiting on God, I begin to to come up with a backup plan.
But in verse 9, after Amaziah had tried to come up with his own backup plan and had invested his money, the man of God tells him that God can give him so much more than that. God can give so much more than we can. He can give more time, more energy, more money, more everything! God can do so much more than us. But we have to let him. We have to stop making backup plans. We have to follow God wholeheartedly. We need to stop playing it safe.
The God I serve is not a safe God at all. I serve a wild and crazy God – a God who can create anything out of nothing, a God who can part an entire sea, a God who uses the least qualified, a God who changed the entire course of history & set the ultimate example of selfless love. My God has an adventurous spirit who calls me into the unknown where he makes impossible things happen so that he can be known to those around me. Because no matter how much time, money, experience or energy I give, God can give so much more than that. And he wants to.
All he asks is that I follow him and follow him wholeheartedly. To live an adventurous life with him. To trust him entirely. To stop doubting him. To not play it safe any more. To stop making a backup plan. Even when we can’t see the next step or where we are headed or even when we feel like we aren’t even moving, he wants us to trust him completely – to follow him wholeheartedly. He wants to give us so much more but we can’t receive it if we are holding on to our backup plans. God wants us to let go and follow him, to follow him on an adventure into the unknown so that he can be made known.