MORE IS SOMETIMES LESS

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who

rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their 

chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek 

help from the LORD. -- Isaiah 31:1, NIV

Two "More Is Less" messages on the same day. 

The first one was at our Sunday morning service at church. Our pastor has been preaching through the book of Judges, and the sermon was on Gideon and his battle with the Midianites (Judges 7). 

Gideon started out with an army of 32,000 men, but before they went out to battle the enemy, God reduced it to 300 so as  to demonstrate that victory comes from Him, and not from human strength or numbers.

The second message, (a sermon preached by Pastor Jim Cymbala at the Brooklyn Tabernacle), was a reiteration of the first one, but with an added, very timely note that seemed addressed directly to me. The service was not part of a livestream I had planned on watching that day, but one my charging iPhone automatically redirected me to when the program I had been listening to ended. 

I think the Lord was trying to get my attention.

In a nutshell, the second message was taken from 2 Chronicles 25:5-10, which recounts how King Amaziah of Judah (the Southern Kingdom of Israel) thought more was better, and hired 100,000 warriors from the Northern Kingdom for 7500 pounds of silver without first praying about it and seeking God. But God sent a prophet to warn him not to partner with people He was against because He would not be with them. If Amaziah went out to war with them, God would remove His blessing and protection and allow them to be defeated by the enemy. 

So then Amaziah asked the prophet, what about all the money he had paid to hire them, and the prophet told him to let it go. "The LORD is able to give you much more than that." Amaziah received the message, listened to the prophet, and sent the warriors away. As a result, God gave him victory over his enemies.

There were so many takeaways from this sermon that applied to me. Three in particular.

The first was that when God says don't do that, or don't go there, it's because He wants to spare you from your own bad decisions. That caused a long forgotten memory of a messenger the Lord sent me many, many years ago when I was about to commit to a relationship that I had convinced myself was of Him, to resurface. 

Unlike Amaziah's reaction to the prophet God sent to warn him, I felt she was way off base as everyone else, including my pastor at the time, approved of it. I saw only what I wanted to see, heard only what I wanted to hear, and my refusal to take her words seriously cost me big time when everything she had said came to pass just as she had warned it would. 

The second was that more can be less when you do things like take on extra jobs or work longer hours so you can make more money, but it winds up hurting your health or your relationships or your family because you don't have time to spend with them. I have been guilty of that as well, and experienced how the more really is less when I try to resolve my financial problems in my own strength instead of seeking God's will and trusting Him to help me. 

The third, which was more than just a takeaway because of a very scary experience that gave it extra credence, was to not look at what you might lose if you obey God, and try to make compromises to save face, or save money, or whatever. That really hit home. 

I have a major struggle with not wanting to waste food because that is wasting money as well. So if I have something I know is not good for me (especially if it is something I like), instead of throwing it out I rationalize I can just eat it anyway and then not buy it again. 

Let me never forget what happened the last time I did that, which was the day before I heard these messages). I got a giant gas bubble that took away my breath and ability to swallow or even speak. It was so scary, all I could do was think the thought "Help me Jesus," over and over again as I walked around and around my apartment trying to dislodge it.

By His grace, I made it through the night, and the first thing I did the next morning--after I gave Him thanks for the gift of a new day and for watching over me and protecting me through the night--was to throw out everything that was left, even though it was perfectly fine (not spoiled or aything like that), and promise God that going forward I would even pray about the food I choose to eat.