DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 11 February 2025: High Cost of Forsaking God
Text: 2 Chronicles 25:17-27 (KJV)
17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face.
18 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
19 Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
20 But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.
21 So Joash the king of Israel went up; and they saw one another in the face, both he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Bethshemesh, which belongeth to Judah.
22 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.
23 And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
24 And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
25 And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen* years.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
27 Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.
KEY VERSE: 2 Chronicles 25:27
“Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.”
Oswald Chambers, the famed Scottish evangelical teacher and minister, had this to say about engaging with God: “Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless, in the first waking moment of the day, you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day. But swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.”
Amaziah, king of Judah, found himself walking on the wrong level as soon as he forsook the Lord and embraced idol worship. As a punishment for his sin and headiness, God allowed him to dabble into ill ventures which caused his ruin. For instance, having shunned a prophet of God, he heeded the advice of his flattering counsellors to revenge the injury done to his people by the army of Israel. Even the friendly response of Joash the king of Israel to Amaziah’s challenge for war could not restrain him. He went willy-nilly into the war and was utterly disgraced. He was eventually killed by his own guards at Lachish where he had fled, following a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem.
Amaziah’s case reminds us of what happens when a person forsakes God. It was an illustration of the scriptural verdict: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28). It always amounts to self-destruction when someone hardens his heart against God. Such attitude disposes the person to harmful decisions and acts.
God is the source of our being and without Him, we are and can do nothing. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Acts 17:28). Backsliders and despisers of God may seem to be getting on with life without God’s presence and power, but they are lost and, except they repent, it is a matter of time before they run into danger and destruction.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Those who turn away from God run into the open arms of disaster.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Mark 1-3
Daily Manna 10 February 2025
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