2 Chronicles 25:9-13: a reflection

9Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.” 10Then Amaziah separated them, the army that had come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again. Therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger. 11Amaziah took courage, and led his people out and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir. 12The children of Judah carried away ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces. 13But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah from Samaria even to Beth Horon, and struck of them three thousand, and took much plunder.

King Amaziah has hired a hundred talents' worth of Israelite mercenaries, and a man of God tells him not to take them into battle, because God is not with them. Amaziah's response is the very human one: but what about the hundred talents I have already paid for them? He is caught by the sunk cost, the money already spent, reluctant to walk away and lose it. And the man of God gives a wonderful answer: the LORD is able to give you much more than this.

Notice the trap Amaziah is in, because it is a common one. He knows the right thing, send the mercenaries back, do not rely on them, but he hesitates because he has already invested in the wrong thing, and letting go means writing off the loss. The money already spent becomes a reason to keep going down a path he has been told to leave.

The prophet's reply cuts the knot: the LORD is able to give you much more than this. Do not let what you have already sunk into a wrong reliance keep you bound to it. God can more than make up what obedience costs you. If you are staying in something because you have already invested so much, money, years, effort, hear this word to Amaziah. The sunk cost is not a reason to disobey. God is able to give you much more than what you let go. Trust him, and walk away from the wrong reliance.

Lord, keep me from staying bound to a wrong path just because I have already invested so much in it. When obedience means writing off a loss, remind me that you are able to give me much more than this, and give me courage to let go and trust you.