2 Kings 14 & 2 Chronicles 25
Everyday when I get home, my sweet dog Brynleigh greets me at the door. She usually gives me a few little barks of hello and then follows me around as I settle in. This darling little corgi is so full of love and devotion, but I am not the object of her affection. When she greets me at the door, she has her orange and blue ball either in her mouth or very close by. While I’m settling in, she’s not worried about me being comfortable. She’s impatiently waiting for me to drop everything and play ball with her. She is 100% devoted to her ball and loves it more than anything or anyone on the planet. Sure she loves me or at least tolerates me in her way, but she practically worships her ball.
King Amaziah is not so different from my beloved corgi. When I see the name Amaziah, I correlate it to the word “amazing,” but we find that he wasn’t the amazing king we would hope for. It says that although Amaziah generally did right in the sight of God, he didn’t do so with a full heart. We see him go through the motions and even make some good decisions, but because his heart is not completely rooted in being a faithful follower of God, we see him fall away. We see him become proud and seemingly believe that he is, in fact, an amazing king.
After Amaziah and his army came home from battle, he didn’t give glory to God or seek His wisdom. Instead, he brought home idols that represented the gods of the sons of Seir. He didn’t just bring them home as plunder or decoration though, he actually started worshiping them. God sends a prophet who confronts him and asks in 2 Chronicles 25:15, “Why have you sought the gods of the people who have not delivered their people from your hand?” But, the amazing king just tells the prophet to stop talking. He didn’t want to hear wisdom and he certainly didn’t want to make any changes in his life.
At the pinnacle of his reign, Amaziah decides to pick a fight with King Jehoash of Israel. Jehoash dishes some major shade his way in return. Here is how I would imagine part of Jehoash’s response if it were in modern times. “Look, thanks to your massive ego, I know you think you are amazing and unstoppable but why don’t you just stay home and polish your trophies. I could crush you and all of Judah too, so don’t embarrass yourself.” In truth, I don’t know if King Jehoash’s reply to King Amaziah was meant to be as sarcastic as I’ve implied or if it was meant to be a more sincere rebuke but either way, the amazing king didn’t listen. His army was defeated, his city was plundered, and he was captured. He really should have just stayed home.
Before we start pointing a finger at King Amaziah’s downfalls and inflate our egos, let’s take a minute to see how similar we might be. Are there times that we go through the motions but don’t give our whole selves to God? Have we ever pushed away wisdom and then suffered the consequences? Of course we have. We have all fallen short, just like the amazing king.
Unlike Amaziah, my hope is that when we fall short that we would seek wisdom. When an idol gets between us and our relationship to God, my prayer is that we would be rooted firmly enough in God’s love to cast it aside. Let’s strive to be whole heartedly devoted to God who truly is amazing.
-Lacey Dunn
Reflection Questions:
• If you were King Jehoash, how might you have responded to King Amaziah’s message?
• What is a potential idol that you might have? How did it become an idol and what can you do to remove it?
• What does it look like to give your whole heart to God? Set aside some time to dig in to scripture, meditate, or have a discussion with a Godly friend about what it means to give your whole heart to God.
Seek Grow Love 