"The Lord can give you much more than that"

Amaziah king of Judah hired a bunch of mercenaries, spending 100 talents of silver. Now a talent is a lot of metal -- something between 75 and 100 pounds. So we're talking 4-5 tons of silver he paid to hire these soldiers. Anyway, a man of God comes to Amaziah and tells him not to use the mercenaries because

"...God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."

Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"

The man of God replied, "The Lord can give you much more than that."

2 Chronicles 25.8-9

So I don't want to talk about military strategy here, or about being unequally yoked, but what struck me here is the phrase I quoted in the title of today's entry.

So I know a guy who gives generously to several Christian ministries. One day, he got a letter thanking him for his generous support, and naming a figure: $200,000. That's how much he had given to just one of these ministries.

When I heard that, my first thought was, "Golly, he could have paid off his house already (or bought another one)!"

Anyway, that's what came to mind when I read "The Lord can give you much more...."

The situation isn't parallel because Amaziah was wasting his money, whereas my friend (who seems to have the gift of giving, by the way) was donating to the work of God. But what is true in both cases is that our God owns "the cattle on a thousand hills," and silver and gold and diamonds in a thousand mines. And he is able to give much more than we donate or spend or waste.

Not that it's a good idea to spend foolishly, but ... well, you know what I mean.

formerly posted on wrong blog site.