Much more than this.
"The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."--2 Chron. xxv. 9.
Amaziah, king of Judah, was going to war against the Edomites. He thought
he would make sure of victory by hiring a hundred thousand soldiers from
the King of Israel, and he paid them beforehand a hundred talents, which
was about £34,218.15s. of our money. But a man of God warned him not to
let the army of Israel go with him, for Israel had forsaken the Lord, and
so He was not with them. It seemed a great pity to waste all that money,
and so Amaziah said, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which
I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord
is able to give thee much more than this." So Amaziah simply obeyed, and
sent the soldiers away, and trusted God to help him to do without them.
Was it any wonder that he gained a great victory over the Edomites?
Does not this teach us that we should simply do the right thing, and trust
God at any cost? When you do this, you will find that, in hundreds of ways
which you never thought of, "the Lord is able to give thee much more." The
trial comes in many different ways. One may be tempted to hurry over
prayer and Bible, because there is something else that she very much wants
to get done before breakfast, and she is afraid of not having time enough.
Another shuts up her little purse when a call comes to give something for
God's work, because she is afraid she will not have enough left for
another purpose. Another is tempted to look at a key, or to glance over
another's shoulder at a lesson, because without it he would not get the
marks he is trying for. Another is tempted not to tell the exact truth, or
to conceal something which he ought to tell, because he would lose
something by it. Oh, resist the devil, and do what you know is right, and
trust God for all the rest! For "the Lord is able to give thee much more
than this," whatever your "_this_" may be. And His smile and His blessing
will always be "more than this," more than anything else!
"Be brave to do the right,
And scorn to be untrue;
When fear would whisper 'yield!'
Ask, 'What would Jesus do?'"