YEAR 2, WEEK 42, Day 1, Monday, 13 October 2025

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Monday, 13 October 2025:

2 Kings 14:1-4 — In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.

Amaziah began well, following the law outwardly but never with David’s undivided devotion. His obedience was partial, and partial obedience is still disobedience. Like his father Joash, he tolerated compromise. The “high places” symbolize the tolerated sins of the heart, places where we still want control. God calls us to remove them entirely, for “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). The tragedy of Amaziah’s reign begins with the tragedy of a divided heart.

“But the high places were not removed….” The high places, centers for Canaanite idol worship and other forms of false worship, are mentioned 117 times in the Old Testament. God had commanded they be torn down, but instead they remained as monuments of Israelite compromise and enticements for ever-increasing sin.

Amaziah, in almost every way, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord… but he did not remove the high places. II Chronicles 25:2 describes it this way: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart.” Amaziah simply wasn’t fully committed or faithful, and that is how he is remembered for eternity — half-hearted.

One of the big problems for Amaziah was he had been born into a world, a community, and a family accustomed to high places. These monuments to sin were woven into the fabric of society and had deep roots. Even Solomon, Israel’s wisest king, “built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.” (1 Kings 11:7) And what about Amaziah’s dad, Joash? Joash rebuilt the temple, yet he didn’t tear down the high places. Amaziah simply “did in all things as Joash his father had done.” Compromise was natural, normal, comfortable and expected for Amaziah. To obey wholeheartedly would have been radical in his day and very challenging; it would have defied all reason from the world’s perspective. So, Amaziah followed social norms rather than God, living out a sociably acceptable ‘faith’ that didn’t challenge the mores (morals and customs) of the people.

What about you? Are you wholeheartedly loving, obeying and serving the Lord in fidelity, or do you still have high places in your life, areas of compromise that are robbing you of the fullness of joy experienced through unity with Christ? What values, traditions, customs, attitudes or habits might you have adopted which are normal, even celebrated, but offensive to God? In what areas of your life might you need the courage of conviction to be “Semper Fidelis Coram Deo — Always Faithful Before the Face of God.” Don’t let anything hinder your relationship with the Lord or your witness before a watching world.

• Luke 12:1 — Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
• Galatians 5:9 — A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
• Proverbs 25:26 — Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
• Song of Solomon 2:15 — Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
• James 4:8 — Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
• 2 Corinthians 11:3 — But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
• 1 Timothy 1:5 — The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

2 Kings 14:5-6 — And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

Amaziah’s early actions showed restraint and respect for God’s law. In obeying the Mosaic command (Deuteronomy 24:16), he demonstrated moral clarity in a world of vengeance and bloodshed. He upheld justice but refused to let it turn into revenge. However, as soon as success established his authority, pride began to grow. It’s often after initial victories that the heart forgets dependence and begins to rely on itself.

Parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children, but people held accountable for their own actions.

2 Kings 14:7-10 — He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

Amaziah’s victory over Edom was impressive, but it became his undoing. Pride turned triumph into transgression. Instead of giving glory to God, he challenged Israel’s king in arrogance. Jehoash’s parable of the thistle and the cedar warns against prideful ambition, the fragile thistle (Amaziah) sought equality with the cedar (Israel’s king), and was crushed. God often warns before He wounds. Amaziah’s refusal to listen shows that pride deafens the heart even to wisdom spoken by an enemy.

The test of faith is not only how we handle defeat but how we handle success. Amaziah’s story reveals that the greater threat to faithfulness often comes after victory, when pride tempts us to believe we no longer need God. Humility keeps the heart teachable and guarded; pride opens it to destruction.

• Proverbs 30:8-9 — Remove far from me falsehood and lies! Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and honor the name of my God.”
• Proverbs 11:2 — When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
• Proverbs 16:18 — Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
• Proverbs 29:23 — One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
• Proverbs 15:33 — The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
• Proverbs 18:12 — Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
• Proverbs 22:4 — The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

2 Kings 14:11-14 — But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

Refusing correction, Amaziah rushed headlong into humiliation. Pride leads not only to personal downfall but to national ruin. Judah’s walls, symbols of protection, were literally torn down. When pride rules the heart, our spiritual defenses crumble. The temple, once sacred, was plundered by the very enemy Amaziah provoked. Compromise and arrogance always expose what we thought was secure. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

2 Kings 14:15-22 — Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place. Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Amaziah’s story closes with slow decline. Though he lived fifteen more years after defeat, Scripture records no repentance. The same pride that led him to war eventually led to his assassination. He began by following the Law but ended by trusting himself. Yet, even through this failure, God remained faithful, raising up Azariah (Uzziah) to continue Judah’s line. God’s redemptive purposes move forward even when His servants falter. His promises outlast our pride, and His covenant endures through generations (Psalm 89:30-33).

Amaziah’s life is a cautionary tale for every believer who starts strong but grows self-reliant. The danger is not merely rebellion, but gradual drift. Pride seldom announces itself loudly, it creeps in quietly after a victory, when faith feels less necessary.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 13 October 2025: Today’s workout is spiritual humility, giving God full credit for every success, obeying Him in every circumstance, and heeding correction with a soft heart. Seek one area where you have grown self-reliant, perhaps a strength, a recent success, or a sense of control, and surrender it in prayer. Replace prideful independence with grateful dependence.

Prayer: “Lord God, You alone are the source of every victory and the defender of every wall around my heart. Guard me from the pride that follows success and the blindness that resists correction. Teach me to listen when You warn, to yield when You correct, and to bow when You bless. Like Amaziah, I often begin in obedience and drift toward self-reliance; bring me back to full devotion, to the humility of David who sought Your heart above all. Let my strength be rooted in surrender and my victories bring glory only to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.”