Read: 2 Chronicles 25:1-16

Why have you sought the gods
of the people, which could
not
rescue their own people
from your hand? -2 Chr. 25:15

If you’ve recently experienced a great spiritual victory, take a
minute to check your luggage. You may have returned from the battle
with something you definitely don’t need.

Amaziah, King of Judah, followed the advice of a man of God before
he went to war, and the Lord gave him a great victory (2 Chr. 25:7-12).
Then, incredible as it seems, Amaziah “brought the gods of the people of
Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned
incense to them” (v.14).

There seems to be a critical time following every spiritual victory
when we are particularly vulnerable to our own foolish mistakes. We may
become proud, thinking we won the battle on our own. We may withdraw in
a wave of depression and fear, wondering how we can possibly sustain the
spiritual advance that has been made. We may suddenly reach out to
embrace the very evil we set out to destroy.

Amaziah brought back the gods of the people whose army he had just
defeated. Who could imagine it? And yet his battlefield baggage led to
his downfall as king. We need to follow up every spiritual triumph with
a humble recommitment to the almighty God who gave it. -David C.
McCasland

Lord, grant us strength from day to day –
How prone we are to go
astray!
The passions of our flesh are strong;
Be Thou, O God, a
shield from wrong. -DJD

THE GREATEST ENEMY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
MAY BE OVERCONFIDENCE.

OUR DAILY BREAD, Copyright 1998 by Radio Bible Class, Grand
Rapids,Michigan. Used by permission.