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?”
Amaziah was the king and had just led his army into battle and returned victorious. He knew this happened because the LORD was with him. He had listened to the LORD’s instructions and refused to allow soldiers from Israel to fight with him. But now he comes home from victory and starts to ask the gods from the losing side for advice. That is just plain stupid! If they had any power they would have brought their side victory. It can be hard to have faith and exercise it. Often we trust the Lord through a difficult time, but then drop back into our old habits after the crisis is over. Our devotional life becomes less important. We start to think that we can handle this one by ourselves. We start trusting the old gods, the old coping mechanisms, instead of continuing to trust the Lord. We take the occasional drink to help us fall asleep after the hard day. We eat the extra brownie when the stress rises. We retreat to the video game. We chat with “friends” on FB and “get things off our chest,” because “they understand us.” We start with the little steps away from faith, and then take giant leaps into sin. We are not so different than this foolish king. If we trust Christ, we are on the winning side. So why in the world would we want to trust a loser?
The Arnold Journey 