A Legitimate Question
Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
2 Chronicles 25:9 (NIV)
We all have said it. We’ve all have thought it. We all have emoted it when we’re about to take that necessary next step in life, whatever it may require. It is this question: “But what about all that I’ve lost?”
This was the question that young King Amaziah of Judah asked the man of God concerning all the silver he had sent to Israel to buy the services of mercenaries in order to strengthen his army. His plan to hire men from Israel seemed like a good idea until a man of God showed up and told Amaziah not to accept any assistance from Israel. Why? Because Israel’s spirituality at the time was so fragile that it would create access points in the hedge of protection that God would form securely around Judah.
Amaziah’s response was to be instantly obedient. He did not waiver, not one bit. He understood the consequences of not obeying God and the corresponding threat that would come with spiritual disobedience, guaranteeing their sure defeat in battle.
But he does ask a relevant question. He asks the man of God, “What about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?” In other words, “What should I do about the money that I’m going to lose?”
Let’s be honest. It was an important question. None of us want to feel like we’ve lost precious time or resources to meaningless connections or experiences. None of us like feeling vulnerable or open to attack. It’s a draining feeling that unearths personal regret. It can release an onslaught of anger and rage. It gives that arrogant voice of failure way too much proximity.
I don’t like to think about what I’ve lost in life by chasing ventures that never went anywhere, trusting people that weren’t worth my time, paying attention to things that weren’t worth paying attention to, or languishing around thoughts that should never have been permitted to persist. To feel like I’ve lost anything smells of failure. Can you relate?
We wonder, “Will certain opportunities ever come back? Have I just given away what I can never recapture? Will I ever get it back?” These questions are real and legitimate. The response that the man of God gives can encourage all of us who have experienced significant loss:
“The Lord is able to give you much more than you’ve lost.”
Don’t allow yourself to be stuck pondering your losses. Instead, stand squarely and securely on the promise that your God is able to give you much more than you have lost—or will ever lose.
Take Heart!
"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."
Psalm 27:13 (NKJV)
No matter how much responsibility is bearing down on you, no matter how many people are texting and calling you to ask or demand something from you, no matter how many requests for your time and energy you receive, no matter how many times your bank account has to be tapped to rescue somebody else while your own bills still need to be paid, know this: whatever you’ve spent in terms of money, time, effort, and emotion is nothing compared to the riches that He wants to pour out on your life today.
After being dragged through the courts, beaten up in the middle of the city square, nailed to a crossbeam, forced to carry it up skull-shaped hill, and dropped between life and death until the sun refused to shine, it looked like Jesus was completely emptied in every way. But God was not through, and He was about fill up His Son again to accomplish more than anyone could ever have imagined.
I don't care how close to empty you think you feel right now. Know that God is not through yet. I don't care how much the pain is squeezing or how loudly the doubt is speaking. I don't care how busy Satan has been creating havoc in your life. No matter what stands against you today, I want to encourage you to remember that God is not through with you.
Whatever assignment He has for you tomorrow, He’s got sufficient grace and anointing for you today. You have what it takes. God is going to keep on blessing, anointing, and providing you with whatever you need, no matter the task.
You may be in a tiring and fatiguing season. You may be wondering, “Lord, when will the storm pass and how much more do I have to endure?”
Let me tell you this: every time I show up empty, God shows up to refill me. And He will do the same thing in your life. Whatever the necessary assignment, He’s going to make sure that you are adequately prepared to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask, think, or imagine.
Don't you get weary in well-doing, for in due season, you will reap. Don’t faint; take heart!
Pressed and Stressed?
"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed..."
1 Corinthians 4:8 (NKJV)
You're pressed and stressed and tired and frustrated and fatigued under the heavy weight you are carrying. But that’s not all you are.
You are also prepared and ready. You are equipped and resourced. You are appointed and gifted. You are supplied and endowed. You are favored and full of faith.
And that means when most are saying, “I can't handle anymore. I can't take another round of this thing that is causing me frustration and weariness,” your response is, “Bring it on.”
Why? Because your relationship with God makes you capable of taking on more and handling it in ways that would make others tap out early. Your faith in Jesus empowers you to face every necessary thing in your life, no matter how much is being required of you.
Jesus brings this kind of resilience to the life of a believer. He brings this kind of influence, this kind of spiritual robustness, this kind of elasticity to the life of a believer. He brings capacity and ability to handle what needs to be handled, to function in assignments, to complete projects, and to make a difference when others would have given up early.
Child of God, you can't get frustrated watching others walk through life with seemingly little responsibility or difficulty. When others seem to be getting off scot-free and you are facing the next giant assignment in your life, your response should be to pause long enough to thank God that He has given you the capacity to stand there, and to know that you have what it takes to get things done.
God never lets your life be pressed into a space, time, or need where He will leave you unprepared. If the Lord has let your life be pressed, He has prepared you to operate in power in that place. Thanks to Jesus, you will always have what you need, when you need it, to get done what He has called you to do.
Faith Gets You Through
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
Faith in God is not a flight from reality. Exercising your faith is not a way of numbing yourself from human lived experience. Instead, faith is refusing to allow seasonal truths to make you forget eternal promises. With faith, the hardship and the struggle and the difficulty of your current circumstances can never make you forget God’s character, His goodness, His power, and His plans for your life.
Glory is the finish line you pass over after having endured the suffering of the present time. Knowing this, you can’t live just wishing and wanting for God to take the pain away. Your faith brings more to the table than that. It brings a conviction that eternal promises pull you forward when pressure is wearing you out. Your faith means when your heart is about to faint, you remember the goodness of God and it energizes you to keep on pushing. The promise gets you up when the pain keeps pushing you down. The promise keeps the forward motion when the frustration makes you want to stop.
Again, your faith is not an invitation to take flight from reality. It is a gift graced to you to filter reality through a heavenly lens. You’re not ignoring anything about your current difficulty when you exercise faith; you’re just choosing to believe God through it all. You’re not denying the struggle; you’re just pulling on the grace. You’re not ignoring the facts; you’re just living on the promises.
Faith is not some esoteric utopian hope. The reason I can say I know that troubles don’t last always is because there’s nothing in my lived experienced stronger than the resurrection of Christ. And if He could get up from the grave, if He can defeat death, and rob the grave of its victory, then there’s nothing in my life that He can’t transform and turn around. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
The only thing that brings about this kind of certainty and authority is the faith that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Release Your Grip on the Old
"Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."
Philippians 3:7 (NIV)
Never forget when facing an ocean of trouble that you are passing through.
I know when you consider the word ocean, you understand the largeness and the intimidation of what you’re facing. But do you also understand the surety and the confidence of how you’re going to face it? You’re passing through.
It’s an ocean of affliction—expansive and arrogant, intimidating and daunting, potentially perilous and admittedly scary. But here’s how you’re going to face it. Here’s how you’re going to endure it. This is what you do while you’re waiting on change to settle in. You keep reminding yourself that you are passing through this season.
Now, what this calls for is your continual push. You pace yourself forward. You endure. You preach to yourself, “It’s just one more day, and if all I can give God this day is one thing, I can give him the offering of my push.”
Don’t project tomorrow’s pressures and responsibilities. Focus on being a good steward of the push you have today, because the promise over your life is this: while you may be facing an ocean, you’re just passing through.
If God is promising me that I’m passing through, then I’ve got to meet His promise with my necessary push. I may not have much to give, but I’m going to keep on pushing. I may even do it with an attitude, but I’m going to keep on pushing. I may be feeding my own mentality and emotions with doubts and cynicism, but that’s all right, because God has put the promise on my life that despite the ocean in front of me, I’m going through it. If I can keep that truth central in my thinking, then no matter what emotions, no matter what attitude, no matter what disposition, no matter what doubt, no matter what fear I may have, I’m at least going to give God my necessary push.
A woman once rushed up to the famed violinist Fritz Kreisler after a concert and said to him, “I’d give my whole life to play as beautifully as you do.” Kreisler replied to her, “Well, I did.” In the same way, your whole life should be a continual push forward. It is not about intermittent bursts of faith and isolated events of deliverance. It is a continuum where we are offering our life, our faith, our patience, and our sacrifice as we wait for changes to unfold.
No matter what stands in front of you today, give God your determination to push through it.
