OVERCONFIDENCE will ‘LEAD’ us to our DEFEAT!
April 18 Bible
Reading: 2 Kings Chapters 13-15
OVERCONFIDENCE will ‘LEAD’ us to our DEFEAT!
Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the
son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us
face one another in battle." And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah
king of Judah, saying, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar
that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife'; and a wild
beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. You have indeed
defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at
home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall--you and Judah
with you?" But Amaziah would not heed. (2 Kings 14:8-11)
King Amaziah
started very well (14:3) by establishing justice in the land and obeying the
Word of God (Deut. 24:16). However, after he won a great victory over Edom, he
became proud and overconfident. Being advised foolishly (2 Chronicles 25:17),
Amaziah arrogantly challenged the Israelite king Jehoash to face him in battle
(v. 8).
Jehoash
replied to Amaziah in the form of a fable—a kind of story designed to teach a moral.
By speaking of Amaziah as a thistle in
comparison with the cedar of Lebanon,
Jehoash tried to help Amaziah put a more realistic construction on his recent
victory. In the “thistle fable” (Judges
9:8–15), the thistle said to the cedar, “Give your daughter to my son as wife” (a bush was making an impertinent
request to a mighty tree). In this fable, the thistle (Amaziah) thought it was equal to a cedar of Lebanon (Jehoash) only to be trampled underfoot!
Actually, the
northern kingdom of Israel was larger and more powerful than the southern
kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 14:30; 15:16, 17). However, Amaziah was so confident
of victory that he attacked Jehoash on
his own territory at Beth-Shemesh, about 15 miles west of Jerusalem (2 Kings
14:11–12). What we see was that Judah was soundly
defeated by Israel, the wall of Jerusalem was breached, the palace and the temple were spoiled, and Amaziah himself was taken captive and was probably consigned
to serving Jehoash (2 Chr.
25:23–25).
This story
teaches us a very important lesson: overconfidence
will certainly lead to our defeat. We should be content with our sphere of
victory as God gives us faith (Rom. 12:3). When we keep our eyes on God, our
victories will humble us and God will get all the glory. But when we forget God,
our victories in themselves will make us overconfident, which will eventually lead
us to our spiritual defeat!
