When Corrections Touches the Heart

I remember a time in my life when I was switching to a new job. I had two offers on the table, and I went to my mentor seeking wisdom. I began explaining both options to him, trying to lay out the details, but before I could even finish, he said, “Take the first one.” He was very clear that it was the right one.

And he was right.

I joined that company, grew there, and within a couple of years became a manager. I was thankful for his guidance because it helped me make the right decision at an important moment in my life.

But around the same season, there was another area where he corrected me. I used to call my wife “adamant” as a pet name. In my mind, it was harmless. But he told me not to call her that. And honestly, I did not receive that correction the same way. I remember thinking, “She is my wife. Why is he correcting me on what I call her?”

Over time, he helped me understand the effect words can have. If I keep calling someone by a certain name, I may be reinforcing what I speak over them instead of helping them grow beyond it.

That is where I began to see something about myself.

I welcomed his guidance when it helped me choose the right job, but I resisted his correction when it touched the way I spoke at home.

As I was reading 2 Chronicles 25, I saw something similar in Amaziah.

Amaziah starts in a way that looks promising. He prepares for battle and even hires soldiers from Israel. But a man of God comes to him and tells him not to take the army of Israel with him, because the Lord is not with Israel. Amaziah then asks a very practical question: “But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?”

That question feels very practical.

He had already paid the money. He had already made the arrangement. He had already invested in that plan. And now the word of God was asking him to walk away from it.

Then the man of God gives him a powerful answer:

“The Lord is able to give you much more than this.”

Amaziah listens.

He lets the hired army go. He accepts the loss. He obeys the correction, and God gives him victory over Edom.

But then something strange happens.

After defeating Edom, Amaziah brings back the gods of the very people he defeated and bows down before them. The Lord sends a prophet to correct him again, but this time Amaziah does not receive it. Instead, he tells the prophet to stop speaking.

That contrast stayed with me.

The first correction touched his strategy and his money while the second correction touched his heart and he only received one of them.

It made me wonder how often I do the same. I may gladly receive advice when it helps me move forward, when it improves my decision, when it protects my outcome but when correction touches my pride, my habits, my speech, my attitude, or the hidden places in my heart, suddenly I become defensive.

Amaziah obeyed when correction helped him win a battle, but he resisted when correction exposed what victory had produced in him.

And maybe that is the real test.

Not only whether I can obey God before the battle, but whether I can remain humble after the victory.

Success has a way of revealing what is still unhealed within us. Victory can make us bold, but it can also make us careless. If we are not careful, the very blessing God gives can become the place where pride begins to grow.

As I sat with this passage, I found myself asking a question.

Do I only welcome correction when it protects my plans, or do I also receive it when it confronts my heart? because the correction that touches my heart may be the one I need the most.

Perhaps that is the lesson Amaziah leaves with us, it is one thing to obey God when the cost is external and it is another thing to stay submitted when the correction is internal.

May we make that decision to stay humble to receive both.