But Amaziah would not heed, for it came from God, that He might give them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought the gods of Edom.
Some might read this verse and conclude that Amaziah did not have anything to do with his rebellious attitude. Amaziah was just a puppet, so to speak, for “it came from God.” By extension then, none of us are really choosing for or against God. It only seems that we are. Just how it is that we can be held responsible for choices that we, in fact, did not make is an unexplainable mystery.
But such a conclusion must be faulty, because it drives us into a theological ditch. The Bible holds out two truths – God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. These two truths must be understood incarnationally, i.e., in the same way we understand that Jesus Christ was fully human, and that he was also fully God.
Amaziah’s heart turned against the Lord. But his rebellion did not take the Lord by surprise. The Lord is longsuffering, but there came a point where the Lord said, “Enough!”, and locked in Amaziah’s rebellion, so to speak, in order that the judgement of God of might fall on His wayward people.
