“Success Goes to the Head” – FBC Morning Light (6/25/2024)

Really good Tuesday morning to you. Today we're reading 2nd Kings 13 and 14 and 2nd Chronicles chapter 25. It's a parallel passage to what we read in chapter 14. Sometimes as we're reading through the Kings and the Chronicles we can get pretty discouraged because we read about king after king after king who did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Every once in a while there's a little bit of a breath of fresh air when we read that such and such a king did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Unfortunately most of the time there's a little caveat that goes along with that, but there is at least an appreciation for this particular king who, generally speaking, he did what was right.

That's certainly better than the summary of his reign that he did what was evil. Well, in 2nd Kings 14 we read about the king of Judah, his name is Amaziah, and we read in verse 3 that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

But there's this little caveat, and that is, yet not like his father David. He did everything as his father Joash had done, and Joash was a pretty good king. So on the whole, Amaziah was a pretty good king.

And one of the things that he did was he defeated the Edomites, we read in verse 7 that he killed 10 ,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by war, and called its name Jokthiel to this day.

You have a fuller description of that battle and so forth in 2nd Chronicles 25, where it says in verses 1 through 16, basically, actually verses 5 through 16, Amaziah gathered Judah together, set over the captains of thousands, and so forth, and he went against the Edomites.

Now remember, the Edomites were enemies of the Israelites for a long, long time, and I don't want to get into the history of that, but there's a justification for this war. It was a righteous war. And so Amaziah went out in battle, and he defeated the the Edomites.

God graciously gave him victory over the Edomites. All right, what do you do with success? What do you do with success? A wise person, a man who is really, you know, godly and recognizes the big picture in matters of success, it humbles him, because he recognizes that were it not for the grace of God, I would not be where I am.

And you know, Paul, for example, said this, is by the grace of God I am what I am. Paul said, and of course Paul knew great success in the ministry, but he also acknowledged, it humbled him. He acknowledged, this isn't because I'm so good, this isn't because I'm so great.

Well, not the case with Amaziah. Amaziah had success, and rather than humbling him and causing him to go to the temple, offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and you know, recognize that he owed everything to God, he did something very foolish.

He sent a message to the king of Israel and said, let's fight, let's go to war. He's thinking, hey, I've whipped the Edomites, I can whip the king of Israel. So that's what he does. And in verse 10 of 2 Kings 14, the king of Israel, Jehoiah Hash, sent to Amaziah and replied and said, you have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up.

Amaziah is, he should be convicted by that, because Jehoiah Hash has nailed it. He says, your heart has lifted you up. He says, glory in that, just be satisfied with the success you've had over the Edomites, and go home, stay at home.

For why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you? Well, Amaziah is going to hear none of that. He's a successful military conqueror. So he goes out to war against Jehoiah Hash and the forces of Israel, and Amaziah is soundly defeated.

He's soundly defeated. It says in verse 11 that Amaziah would not heed, therefore Jehoiah Hash, king of Israel, went out, so he and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced one another. Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent.

Now, here's an interesting thing. When you read the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 25, you get a little more insight into why Amaziah and Judah lost this battle. It wasn't just because of the proud heart that is expressed in challenging Israel to battle.

There's more to it than that. He says, we read in verse 20 of 2 Chronicles 25, well back up to verse 19, it says, the king of Israel is saying this, indeed you say you have defeated the Edomites, and your heart is lifted up to boast, there's the pride, stay at home, why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall, you and Judah with you.

But, verse 20, here's the key, here's the insight that we get. Amaziah would not heed, for it came from God. So this stubborn, proud heart, it came from God. Why? So that he might give them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought the gods of Edom.

You get that? So the pride expressed by Amaziah toward Israel, Jehoahash, the king of Israel, is not only due to his defeat of the Edomites, and he's lifted up with pride over that, but he's also expressing pride against God, by saying, basically, I don't need you to win battles, after all, I've conquered the gods of the Edomites, and now we can serve them, and worship them.

How foolish is this? How foolish is this? This is what pride does to us. Pride distorts our thinking, it perverts our worship, and it lifts us up so that we think we're invincible, and can do anything that we want to do.

Well, sometimes we need what Amaziah got. We need to be taken down a few pegs. It's exactly what happened. Israel defeated Amaziah and Judah, and they suffered a great deal of loss over it. So may God give us humble hearts that don't need, that don't need the humbling that comes from being taken down a few notches.

So our Father and our God, may we learn this important lesson about the need for humility, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday. May the Lord bless you, and good day.