In the middle of the story

My son quit a lucrative job ($900 a week) for conscience reasons because the product did not honor God. Now he makes $10 an hour landscaping.

This reminds me of the time a king named Amaziah was building up his army, and after organizing 300,000 of his own choice men in Judah, he also hired 100,000 fine soldiers from the northern kingdom of Israel. Soon a prophet paid him a visit:

“O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help …” (2 Chronicles 25:7-8).

To his credit, Amaziah was willing to trust that God would help him without the help of backslidden Israel. Nevertheless, he was worried about all the money he had forked out for them:

“But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” (verse 9)

(It’s rather funny when you think about it: Sometimes we are willing to trust God with one thing, but we get cold feet about trusting Him with something else. Oh for a heart that leans on Him completely!)

“The man of God answered, ‘The LORD is able to give you much more than this’” (verse 9).

A hundred talents of silver is chicken feed for God. King Amaziah obeyed the prophet and discharged the Israelite soldiers—and went on to win handily against the army of Seir (verse 11).

My son is still making only $10 an hour, a pittance of his former salary. Shall we conclude that God’s promise came true for Amaziah but failed for my son? Not at all. We shall say instead that we are only in the middle of the story. Stay tuned for God to be wonderful.