After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. – 2 Chronicles 25:14

It used to be that everyone attributed their success and failure to to blessing and curse of some higher being. Today, many people will pat themselves on the back when something goes well and blame others when it doesn’t. That is just as much idolatry as it was for King Amaziah to attribute his success in battle to the “gods of men of Seir.”

There are two questions that come to mind when reading this story:

1. How often do we choose to give worship and praise to someone or something that is not God when we feel excited, celebratory, or successful?
2. How often do we give God honor and thanks for something we think He did but it was only us acting out of his will?

King Amaziah had success and was willing to thank the gods for it, but not the God and God had nothing to do with it (realtively). As you read the rest of the story, you see God even sent a prophet to set him straight but he wouldn’t listen. In the end, he was captured and his kingdom destroyed because he chose to follow his own path and not that which God had set out for him.

Are you following God’s path and worshiping Him alone along the way?