7/9/14: Less is More
We’ve all probably heard the phrase “less is more.” Usually, that wording is used to discuss the impropriety of an over-dressed woman, an over-decorated room, or an overly wordy conversationalist. We want things toned down; someone is just doing too much or trying too hard. We give the soft advice, “Less is more.”
But when reading Second Chronicles 13 and 14, we find that the phrase “less is more” can take on a totally different meaning. In these two chapters, God helps considerably less people beat up on considerably larger groups. In chapter 13, Abijah’s 400,000 choice men of Judah rout King Jeroboam’s 800,000 choice men of Israel (13:3). Then in chapter 14, after Judah had been enjoying ten years of peace under Asa, the Ethiopian army of “a million men and three hundred chariots” decide to attack (14:9). Asa only had an army of 580,000 (14:8).
In both of the above cases, less proved to be more because the numerically smaller side had a secret weapon: God. Abijah had warned Jeroboam saying, “Now look, God Himself is with us as our head… O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!” 2 Chronicles 13:12 (NKJ). And Asa had cried out to God, confidently praying, “LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11-13 (NKJ). What was the outcome? Abijah’s men reduced Jeroboam’s army down to 300,000 before it was all over (13:17), and “the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled… [and] were overthrown, and they could not recover, for they were broken before the LORD and His army (14:12-13).
What we’re facing may seem as large as a million-man army, but if God can handle all those men with swords, shields, and slaughter on their minds, certainly He can handle issues that threaten to overwhelm us. All this news gives a whole new, encouraging twist to the words of First John 4:4 which states, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world,” doesn’t it? (NKJ). Worship God today for being more than the majority.
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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.
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