GOOD START - BAD FINISH. 2nd Kings 12 What a blessing it is to have good mentors when we begin our lives with the Lord. They can guide us through our first questions and give us biblical answers. They can tell us what to do when choices arise and how to act when challenges come. Their guidance is invaluable when life decisions have to be made. Because of their experience, they can tell us what to avoid and what to put our efforts behind. The worship of the Lord is to be done in His way and where He has "chosen to place His name there."
Joash (Jehoash) had this kind of training from Jehoiada, the priest. During the early years of Joash's reign, he did well as he listened to the advice of Jehoiada and acted on it. He was recognized as a good king for a while, although he didn't go far enough in dealing with religious sin. He left the "high places" where it was convenient for the people to continue their idolatrous practices. They may have thought they were worshipping God, but just because we think a thing is so doesn't make it true.
When we wonder what is right, we need to be sure the Bible supports it and carry out the service in the way the scripture teaches. If what we intend to do is prohibited, we must not act on our own opinions. If an action keeps me from serving God, worshipping Him in the way He wants, or loving Him without embarrassment, then I must not do it. If I am bound to a thing to the extent I am obligated as a slave to it, or if it is not consistent with the known will of God, I must have nothing to do with it, no matter how attractive it may be. If an action or service I take hinders the faith and life of other believers, then I must not go there or do that. Joash did some good things but did not cancel out his neglect to deal with the bad things.
By blending pagan customs with the worship of the Lord in His chosen way, that custom-made religion results in people seeming religious and spiritual, but in reality, it takes them far away from the Lord. When we honor God in some ways and then fail to reject that which is wrong, the day will come when evil practice becomes predominant because it appeals to our fleshly nature.
The temple was over one hundred forty years old and would have deteriorated due to the course of nature and the neglect of those who had turned to idolatry. They had even used the temple building as a place for the practice of idolatry. It had been left uncared for until obvious “breaches” and damage needed some serious work done. Some basic things, such as replacing stones and timber in the framework and iron reinforcement, had to be done to strengthen the building.
Joash saw the need for the temple to be repaired and took steps to rectify the problem years of neglect and disuse had brought on the house of God. However, the priests who received the gifts to repair the temple did not use the gifts entrusted to them in the right way or for the right purposes. So, the work for which the funds were given was not done. To deal with this problem, Jehoiada provided a means for the people to be assured that what they gave was used for their intended purpose. The Levites were not doing the work they had been called to for some reason. The priests did or would not do the work for which the money was given.
Finances to cover the costs of repair did not come from the normal source at the temple but were provided by freewill offerings. Those funds were specifically for the repair of the temple, not for any other purposes. So Jehoiada passed the funds directly to those who could do the needed work, and they did it. The workmen could be trusted, and they acted honestly as the repairs were done.
Skilled carpenters, metal workers, and masons were given the needed money directly instead of going through the Levites and priests, who were either lazy and slow to go to work repairing the temple or used the money for unjust reasons. Any money that was left over and not needed for repairing and reinforcing the temple was returned to the king.
When things left undone spiritually and physically are faced, we need to be sure we go far enough in correcting them, and yet not go too far to suit the changing times. What is done for the Lord has to be biblical in its authority; it should not take us away from serving the Lord or lead us to love or serve anything or anyone other than the Lord. Whatever we do must not bring us into bondage but must be consistent with the purposes of God and will benefit His people.
Sometimes, funds given by people in good faith end up in the wrong place and are used for the wrong things. Today, some have received money intended to further the Gospel, and some use that money for other purposes. Our financial giving needs to be carefully dispensed so that it is used for work with which we can have fellowship. Trustworthy people do not need someone looking over their shoulders all the time. They do what they do "as unto the Lord" and are often overlooked by those who like to be noticed. The Lord’s people will give generously when they know it will be used as intended, and they will be able to see the fruit of their labor. When designated gifts are properly used, the Lord's people will respond.
When dealing with financial matters on behalf of others, a person must be open and above board. We must remember that everything we do is observed by God, and we are held accountable to Him and His people. Careful accounting of the use of money entrusted to us for our use or for safekeeping is the only way to avoid suspicion of taking and using it in the wrong way, for the wrong reasons, and for personal gain.
There are breaches, but people have become used to them. Time can numb the conscience, and repairing it will cost a considerable amount of money. There are many other ways to spend our money that are not so time-consuming and demanding of hard work! But this place is the house of the Lord! Shouldn’t we go back and search the scriptures to see what to do to meet this obvious need and how to please our God? We are not demanding a certain amount of money from every person! We just want to give everyone the privilege of sharing the responsibility of taking care of what belongs to God and what He has given us to use.
Remember how it was at the start? We were taught from the scriptures that we lay aside a proportion of what God has given us and from which we have prospered. We who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ need to be set apart ourselves and should also set apart that proportion of our income for the Lord to use. Each saved person began to search his or her heart for ways to show gratitude to the Lord and our fellowship with other believers. One way is to set aside a proportion of the money we have received and offer it to the Lord as a sacrifice of thanksgiving!
As the opportunity arose, God’s people willingly did what was right. They gave what they could privately between them and God, not in the sight of everyone else. Those who did that with a grateful heart as a “hilarious giver” went away glad with light footsteps because they returned to God His money that had been entrusted to them!
God gives us what we really need to have food and raiment and make us content. He also gives us opportunities to bless others when we give heed to the prompting of the Spirit of God. It is a relief to the soul when we are freed from greed and can make money available for the furtherance of God’s work.
There are other ways we can be involved in repairing breaches that come when God’s people get careless and indifferent to those things that pertain to the kingdom of God. We need to be acquainted with God’s Word to know what it teaches and be in fellowship with Him so He can reach our hearts and teach us how to step in and do what is needed. Exercise of heart and a willingness to act in faith that is not feigned is a way we can help to bring God’s house back until it is fully intact in words and actions. When we are sincere and true, sincere worship then can prosper!
The integrity of those craftsmen had to have started way in the past and been passed on from those who labored long for very little or nothing. Their generation, in the deepest night of soul-searching, when evil worship was abounding, was silent until a voice was heard, one of their own. Following paths of integrity and proof that liberated them inwardly, they were set free to walk with God—a God of integrity.
In our world today, passing generations, each unfolding a page of living day by day, learn from the voices they hear and words that match deeds done. Watching and learning children, with their parents as models, act on premises that become their habits. Each characteristic is passed on—heard first, seen, and then practiced until it remains in characters built firmly on the rock of integrity.
However, subtle immigration, which has turned away from true voices speaking from the past, has deceived young people who are now drowned by modern-day Baal’s noisy chatter. Leaders, religious advisors, farmers, and men of commerce have compromised truth and faith. In their place have come evil choices, selfish decisions, and actions that are not of faith at all. Selfish, self-centered leaders and their followers have compromised, new traditions have replaced righteousness, and people have lost their integrity.
But integrity is not lost to all, for some walk still with the light in the darkest night, not yet hidden completely by others. Light of character, once formed, still shows the strains passed on. Men and women who live next door, and those they know, watch, see, and hear, that once their voice is heard, their true word given, it is as good as done. It's not only done, but their best labors reveal that they are people of integrity.
Such people's hands are applied to their work and the funds given to them. No questions or suspicions need to pass from mouth to mouth. The work they do and the words they say are never brought into question. God-like, they bend to their asks each day, knowing not just men but God Himself observes and knows the cost, the way, and the need to build again that which sin has broken – and He watches with satisfaction – Men of integrity.
Poor Joash (Jehoash) was a good king as long as his mentor lived, but when the advice he got earlier in his life was not there, he actually became a spiritual failure and an incompetent leader. He began to worship idols, and as he turned away from the Lord, he went downhill personally, and his life began to unravel. His kingdom went out of control, and his apostasy led to his death by assassination. It must have been after the death of the priest, Jehoiada, that Joash lost his direction and commitment to the righteousness of life as he had been taught. Joash turned away from the Lord and even had Jehoiada's son, Zechariah, stoned to death because of his warning that the Lord would forsake him and the nation.
We need to know the Lord personally to stand against the pressures that will come. Part of the learning process we need to instill in young people is that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Faith isn't something we inherit. It becomes ours when we act on what we have learned from the Lord and those who taught us His word. It is a sad commentary on one's life who began well and continued well in his younger years, but when older, to die a wicked person.
It is important for those who mentor younger people to give them the opportunity and responsibility to act on their own when possible and give them guidance and correction when necessary. It is important for younger people to listen to the advice and take it to make it their own as soon as possible. Initiative in a person is good, especially when we know the necessary "checks and balances" are in place. Not everyone who starts well ends well.