Life Principle 19

Anything You Hold Too Tightly You Will Lose

Table of Contents

1. The Principle of the Open Hand
2. Woe to Those at Ease (Amos 6:6-7)
3. How Are the Israelites Displeasing God? (Amos 2:6-8)
4. Warnings to Zion and Samaria (Amos 6:1-8)
5. Enamored with Prosperity (Hosea 10:1-3)
6. How Did Amos’s Prophecy Come True? (2 Kings 17:5-20)
7. What Happened to Everything Israel Was Trying to Hold On To?
8. Application: Keep Your Eyes on God

Beloved friend, there is a quiet danger in the blessings God gives. Life Principle 19 declares that anything you hold too tightly you will lose. When a gift becomes more important than the Giver, God will assert Himself as the great authority in your life. He does so in love, because He will not share control of your life with something or someone else. Let us open the Scriptures and learn.

The Principle of the Open Hand

God delights to give good gifts, but He never intends for those gifts to take His place. When we clutch them tightly, we risk losing both the gift and the intimacy with the Giver. The open hand is the hand that remains free to receive and to release.

Woe to Those at Ease (Amos 6:6-7)

Amos 6:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.

Those who lived in luxury and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph would go captive first. The very things they reclined upon would be taken away. What they held tightly became the first things lost.

How Are the Israelites Displeasing God? (Amos 2:6-8)

Amos 2:6-8 (NKJV)
6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for silver,
And the poor for a pair of sandals.
7 They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And pervert the way of the humble.
A man and his father go in to the same girl,
To defile My holy name.
8 They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.”

Israel was displeasing God by selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, by perverting justice, by defiling His holy name through immorality, and by lying down on clothes taken in pledge while drinking the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. Their prosperity had become a covering for injustice and idolatry.

Warnings to Zion and Samaria (Amos 6:1-8)

Amos 6:1-8 (NKJV)
1 Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,
And trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Go over to Calneh and see;
And from there go to Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”

Woe to those at ease in Zion who trusted in Mount Samaria. They put far off the day of doom while living in luxury. The Lord God of hosts said, “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” What they trusted in would be delivered up.

Enamored with Prosperity (Hosea 10:1-3)

Hosea 10:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Israel empties his vine;
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
He has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.
2 Their heart is divided;
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
3 For now they say,
“We have no king,
Because we did not fear the Lord.
And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

The people of Israel were enamored with their prosperity so much that they had forgotten God. Doesn’t that sound relatable? According to the multitude of their fruit they increased the altars. Their heart was divided. They became prideful in their affluence and military victories. Now they said they had no king because they did not fear the Lord.

How Did Amos’s Prophecy Come True? (2 Kings 17:5-20)

2 Kings 17:5-20 (NKJV)
5 Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods,
8 and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.
10 They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
11 There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger,
12 for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”
13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.”
14 Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them.
16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.

Amos’s prophecy came true when the king of Assyria besieged Samaria for three years and carried Israel away. They had sinned against the Lord, feared other gods, built high places, set up sacred pillars, served idols, and rejected His commandments. The Lord removed them from His sight and delivered them into the hand of plunderers.

What Happened to Everything Israel Was Trying to Hold On To

Everything Israel was trying to hold on to—the land, the prosperity, the palaces, the security of Mount Samaria—was lost. The city and all that was in it was delivered up. They went captive. The very things they clung to became the evidence of their captivity.

Application: Keep Your Eyes on God

Friend, I loved owning a home, and even though I probably did claim it a little too tightly—by evidence that seven years later it still bothers me—I needed this life principle. It should never be more important to me than God. There will be times when God will assert Himself as the great authority in your life, and yes, even as I write this, there are times that makes me afraid. But I know God is loving. Keep your eyes on God and not the blessing. God will not share control of your life with something or someone. Open your hands. Hold the gifts lightly. Anything you hold too tightly you will lose. Let Him remain the great authority, and you will keep what truly matters.

Amen