Thought from today’s Bible reading from 2 Kings 12-13; 2 Chronicles 24.
Joash became king when he was just seven years old. Understandably, he needed help from a faithful, God-fearing man at the beginning of his reign in order to rule properly. He received the guidance he needed from Jehoiada.
“Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (2 Chronicles 24:2).
Unfortunately, after the death of Jehoiada, Joash made a sharp departure from faithful service to God and godly governance.
“But after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them. They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt. Yet He sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord; though they testified against them, they would not listen.
“Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people and said to them, ‘Thus God has said, “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord and do not prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has also forsaken you.”‘ So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash did not remember the kindness which his father Jehoiada has shown him, but he murdered his son. And as he died he said, ‘May the Lord see and avenge!’” (2 Chronicles 24:17-22).
The words spoken by Zechariah in his death did come to pass. While Joash was sick in bed, his servants conspired against him and killed him “because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest” (2 Chronicles 24:25).
This reminds us of an important lesson: true faithfulness to God can only come from a personal determination to serve Him. Jehoiada did the best he could in training Joash to follow the Lord, but Joash did not develop his own faith. Therefore, once Jehoiada was gone, Joash had to find new counselors. He found certain “officials of Judah” who “abandoned the house of the Lord… and served the Asherim and the idols” and “would not listen” to the Lord’s prophets (2 Chronicles 24:17-19).
It is good to have godly men and women to help guide us in the right ways, particularly older ones with wisdom and experience to share. But our faith must not rest upon them. Otherwise, when they are gone and we cannot stand on our own, we must look for others to guide us. We must have the type of faith that will allow us to stand, even if others are trying to lead us away from the Lord.
Tomorrow’s reading: 2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
