Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 2 Chronicles 25-30
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 110
Key Verse
2 Chronicles 28:16 — “At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.”
Devotional Thought
Amaziah began well enough, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD, “but not with a perfect heart.” That phrase is a mirror held up to every one of us. He obeyed God when it cost him nothing, but when the man of God told him to send home the hundred thousand mercenaries he had already paid for, Amaziah’s first question was not “What is right?” but “What about the hundred talents?” How often our devotion to God is really devotion to our own investments, our own plans, our own reputations. And yet the man of God gave him a promise we still need today: “The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.” God is never the poorer for our obedience.
But Amaziah’s heart was divided, and a divided heart does not stay neutral; it drifts. After the victory over Edom, he carried home the gods of Seir and bowed down to them — gods that could not even deliver their own people out of his hand. The prophet’s rebuke is one of the sharpest in Scripture, and Amaziah’s answer is one of the proudest: “Art thou made of the king’s counsel? forbear.” When we refuse correction, we are not simply stubborn; we are choosing a path that God Himself will confirm. The text says Amaziah would not hear, “for it came of God.” Then came the challenge to Joash, the thistle that thought itself a cedar, and the collapse at Bethshemesh. The same pride that lifted Uzziah into the temple to burn incense, and lifted him back out a leper, was already at work in his father’s heart.
And yet, in the middle of this long decline, God is still merciful. When Israel brought two hundred thousand captives from Judah to Samaria, a prophet named Oded met them, and men of Ephraim — Azariah, Berechiah, Jehizkiah, Amasa — stood up and said, “Ye shall not bring in the captives hither.” Then they clothed the naked, fed the hungry, anointed the wounded, and carried the feeble on donkeys back to Jericho. Even in a wicked generation, God has His remnant, and mercy is never wasted.
As September turns toward autumn and the year begins to show what it has made of us, these chapters ask us plainly: Is our heart whole toward God, or only mostly? Do we obey when obedience costs us something we have already spent? And when we are corrected, do we listen, or do we send the prophet away? The thistle always falls. The cedar always stands. Choose the One who can give you much more than a hundred talents.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you obeying God only as far as it costs you nothing — and what “hundred talents” are you afraid to lose?
- When was the last time you received correction from God’s Word or from another believer? Did you listen, or did you say in your heart, “Forbear”?
Prayer
Lord God, You are able to give us much more than anything we surrender for Your sake. Search our hearts, for we have too often served You with something less than a perfect heart. Give us the humility to receive correction, the courage to obey when it costs us, and the mercy to show others what You have shown us. Do not let us be lifted up by our own victories, nor hardened by our own pride. Keep us near the cross, where the proud are humbled and the weary are carried home. In the name of Jesus, our Priest forever, we pray. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 110:1 — “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”