Just yesterday we reverently sang; “You can have it all” in worship to our Lord. But I confess that when I sing the chorus; I wonder if the words are still too inadequate for the One who already owns it all. Are the words merely mankind’s attempt to give God permission to bless us in our feeble surrender in song? It feels good but is it good? The intended message is surrender. But even in surrender, God seeks wholehearted surrender, the kind of surrender where there is not even a hint of our arrogant thinking of “oh how noble and good we are to sing these very words to Him” or to think “how pleasing we must be to God, blessing Him like this with our song of surrender.” Especially when after the service is over; we return to our “regularly schedule programs” of self.
Believers who go deeper and wholeheartedly into a posture of humbled surrender — weep. This outpouring of emotion is because wholehearted believers realize the true cost to not only believe Jesus but in the following of Jesus which involves ALL our hearts, minds, and souls—all that is within our “created in His own image” being! Wholehearted surrender comes because of realizing the fullness and significance of what God has surrendered for us—Jesus, His Son, a part of Himself which is more than enough! “We love Him because He first loved us,” John teaches us. (1 John 4:19) We also know that God created Love. God demonstrated His Love in surrender of His Son to save us.
Yes, “In the beginning, God…” is the beginning of God’s Story and Plan that includes surrender by Him for us. When we realize this truth, only then can we begin to grasp the depth of Real Love, created by God, Who is Love. Because of Love; God surrendered His One and Only Son to die for us because of this wholehearted Love for us!
God created ALL. God owns all. He created all that is within us, surrounding us and is over and under us. We are standing on the ground God created to hold us physically upright. We are spiritually standing wholeheartedly on the Truth Who has all Authority. We are redeemed and blessed with life eternal because God created the Way back to Him through believing in His Son, Jesus! God is Sovereign because God alone reigns over all He created and owns. Yes, the first four words of His Word speaks volumes about God; “In the beginning God…”
Everything in and on earth belongs to the Maker who gives life to new born infants who God knew in the wombs of their moms and who gave each one purpose to walk with Him! King David, the descendant of the new king of Judah, sang wholeheartedly;
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory. –David, Psalm 24
How it must grieve the heart of God for us to come to him with half-hearted surrender to His wholehearted redemption of us.
Amaziah, descendent of David, new King of Judah is described as, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.” Read on to see the results of half-hearted thinking followed by arrogant behaviors. Spoiler alert—It’s not good.
2 Chronicles 25
Amaziah King of Judah
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly. 3 After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. 4 Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded: “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”[a]
5 Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men fit for military service, able to handle the spear and shield. 6 He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.
7 But a man of God came to him and said, “Your Majesty, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”
9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?”
The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”
10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.
11 Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. 12 The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
13 Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided towns belonging to Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
14 When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them. 15 The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, “Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?”
16 While he was still speaking, the king saidto him, “Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?”
So the prophet stopped but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
17 After Amaziah king of Judah consulted his advisers, he sent this challenge to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”
18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. 19 You say to yourself that you have defeated Edom, and now you are arrogant and proud. But stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?”
20 Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that he might deliver them into the hands of Jehoash, because they sought the gods of Edom. 21 So Jehoash king of Israel attacked. He and Amaziah king of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. 22 Judah was routed by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 23 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section about four hundred cubits long. 24 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the temple of God that had been in the care of Obed-Edom, together with the palace treasures and the hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. 26 As for the other events of Amaziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? 27 From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there. 28 He was brought back by horse and was buried with his ancestors in the City of Judah.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
Both Amaziah and the next king, Uzziah who we will read about tomorrow, were God-fearing kings. As long as they surrender to God and acknowledged God’s part in their achievements, they prospered. When ambition and pride caused them to forget God, and lean on their own understanding of how to lead the people of Judah; they paid the price for their sin.
Pride that lies within our sin nature is an old tool of our Enemy that he uses tirelessly. I believe Satan trains battalions of demons to whisper one question in our ears daily: “What are people thinking of you?” Pride causes us to set ourselves up as gods, thinking we own all that we have accumulated and therefore decide how to use it for our glory and position in life. Because of pride, we sin without regard to God’s standards of holiness. When our pride overtakes our being there is no longer any room for God. Surrender no longer becomes a part of our vocabulary or our response to God who gave His all for us.
Those who deliver the Good News message of Jesus each week from the platforms are tempted most with pride—especially when beginning to make a difference for Christ! The devil hates success in God’s church! So, evil tempts God’s servants with pride that seeks ambition. It creeps in slowly but soon sweeps away our wholehearted devotion to God. Success often tries to squeeze God out of our minds. So, we must guard our hearts like precious treasures. We must daily ask God to renew our minds, transform our thinking and our attitudes while refreshing our souls with a reset of His mercies as our default.
Resist pride like the plague. Wholeheartedly focus on Christ in surrender to Him. “Here’s how” says Paul to the church;
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG
Paul explains true surrender of self to God, the One who truly has it all;
“Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” Romans 12:3, MSG
Amaziah was not wholehearted in his relationship to the Lord, and this revealed itself in the way he argued with the prophet about the will of God. The king was unwilling to send the mercenaries home because it would have meant forfeiting the 7,500 pounds of silver he had paid to the king of Israel. Amaziah was counting the cost and adjusting his priorities, hoping he could change God’s mind. The prophet wisely replied that God could give him much more if he would only trust Him and obey His will.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”—Jesus, Matthew 6:33
“You are my strength when I am weak, You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
I’m seeking You like a precious jewel, Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all…
Taking my cross my sin my shame, Raising again I praise Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up, When I run dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all…”
(Composer, Dennis Jernigan, 1991 Shepherd'’s, Heart Music, Inc. (Admin. by PraiseCharts Publishing, Inc.)
“I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all…” (Judson W. Van DeVenter, composer, 1896)
Lord,
I surrender all that is within me for all you want to do and through me as your servant. I’m yours. And I’m listening wholeheartedly. I’m singing the Song of the Redeemer!
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 