Not Right For You

“Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there.” (2Ki 14:19 AV)

 

The above verse is said of Amaziah, king of Judah.  Amaziah was one of the good kings of Judah.  However, He made one big mistake.  God was blessing Amaziah.  He took that to mean God would bless him in anything he attempted.  Amaziah decided to go to war with the north.  Jehoash, king in the north, warned Amaziah not to try it.  For good reason.  Jehoash was a descendant of Jehu.  Jehu was promised a king on the throne of the north for four generations.  There was no way Amaziah was going to be successful against Jehoash.  Amaziah did much worse than lose the battle.  Jehoash marched all the way to Jerusalem.  He broke down four hundred cubits worth.  He then sacked the temple of Solomon and took gold, silver, and the implements used in worship.  Can you imagine?  A Jewish king pillaging the temple?  Be that as it may, the problem lay with Amaziah.  To top it all off, Jehoash also took captives from that raid and made them bondmen; something strictly forbidden by old testament law.  This did not sit well with Judah.  Fifteen years later, they would conspire and kill Amaziah.  What may have seemed like a noble idea at first, became his undoing.

There are times when we think we might be doing a good thing, but it turns out to be a bad thing.  Not that it wasn’t a good thing. Rather, it wasn’t a good thing for us to do.  For instance, many years ago, I financially aided someone in a bad situation.  The person’s child was sick and they needed a doctor.  They didn’t have any money.  It was toward the end of the month and my car need to be registered.  I chose to help this mother out and take the chance the LORD would supply my need by the end of the month.  Not good.  I gave her the money on Wednesday and Friday was the first of the month.  It was also payday.  I was on my way to the DMV and got pulled over for an expired registration.  The few dollars given to help a sick child cost me thousands in fines and increased insurance premiums.  It didn’t dawn on me that this mother could trust the LORD as much as I could.  Why did I take on the responsibility of faith when she could have?  Or, how about just a few weeks ago?  I fella was stuck in the snow and ice.  He needed a helping hand.  I was the only one around.  At least that I could see, anyway.  I pushed his truck out, but in the process, damaged my rotator cuff and elbow.  I have a friend a block away with a tow truck.  He could have done it safer, faster, and with no damage to me physically.

The point is, what we think might be a good idea, just might be.  But not for us.  Jehoash was being chastened by the king of Syria, Benhadad.  If God wanted Israel corrected, Amaziah did not need to add his two cents.  God had it in hand.  There was no reason for Amaziah to dare Israel to fight.  Sure, Amaziah was doing right in the sight of the LORD.  But it wasn’t his place to correct his brother.  God had it handled.  So, next time we have an impulse to do something we think is the right thing to do, we need to pray about it.  It could be the right thing for us is the wrong thing for us.  It could be all we have done right is undone by that which was not right for us.