2 Kings 14:11–12: “But Amaziah would not heed. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went out; so he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent.”

August 8th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

King Amaziah of Judah won a great victory over the Edomites, and it gave him a false sense of confidence. He brought back the Edomites’ idols, and then refused to listen to God’s prophets when they confronted him about them (2 Chron. 25). It is amazing what a little success can do to our ability to think critically. Still feeling confident and prideful, he challenged King Jehoash of Israel to a battle. Jehoash told Amaziah that he was overestimating his power, but Amaziah would not back down. Throwing caution to the wind, he confronted Jehoash head-on and got his clock cleaned.

God recorded these events so that as we look back at what led to Amaziah’s downfall, we might learn from him and spare ourselves from repeating his mistakes. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 that all the things in the Old Testament were written as examples for our understanding. The 16th-century philosopher Edmund Burke said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” This is even more important for believers to remember. History is filled with fatal mistakes that were brought about by pride and over-confidence.

Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Titanic. Finished in 1912, it was the largest ship ever built at the time, 822 feet long. The captain was so confident of the ship’s invincible design that he ignored repeated warnings of huge icebergs floating off the coast of Newfoundland. One survivor quoted a crewmember as saying to a female passenger the morning the Titanic sunk, “Even God Himself couldn’t sink this ship, madam.” But on April 14, 1912 an iceberg slashed a 300-foot-long hole and flooded 5 compartments. In less than 3 hours, the ship sank in 13,000 feet of water. 1,503 people drowned because the owners didn’t want to “waste deck space for lifeboats they’d never need.” Today the name Titanic has come to mean a human disaster due to the over-confidence of man. For believers, the name King Amaziah should have the same ring to it.

“LORD, we desire to trust only in You and Your strength. Give us Your strength to walk the talk before others this day.”