DEVOTION / Worn down: Why Jehoshaphat gives me pause
2 Chronicles 17
Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king and strengthened himself against Israel. 2 He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals 4 but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. 5 The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. 6 His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.
2 Chronicles 20
31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 32 He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 33 The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.
My Bible reading for today took me into 2 Chronicles 17-20 and the reign of Judah's king Jehoshaphat. I found something that gave me pause. Perhaps it will bring you up short, too.
A godly king — with issues
We are introduced to Jehoshaphat in chapter 17. Verse three describes him in a way that few Judahite kings are described, "The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him." As proof of his godly rule, verse 6 says, "he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah." These high places and Asherah poles testified to the worship of false gods in Judah.
When we come to the end of Jehoshaphat's life, the Chronicler maintains that Jehoshaphat "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord" (verse 32). However, the next verse says, "The high places…were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors."
What went wrong?
Jehoshaphat began his reign by destroying the places where many in Judah went to worship false gods. Twenty-five years later, however, those worship places were once again enticing God's people away from the Lord.
That's what gave me pause. Thirty-five-year-old Jehoshaphat boldly destroyed the places where his subjects loved to commit themselves to gods that did not exist. Sixty-year-old Jehoshaphat apparently had given up trying to hold back the tide of godlessness in his land. Had he run out of energy? Did he get weary of doing good and give up (Galatians 6:9)? Did he justify not standing against that idolatry by reasoning his people have the right to worship as they please? Or perhaps reasoning his people could be doing worse things than being (falsely) religious?
How am I a godly person … with issues?
Where have I, like Jehoshaphat, backed away from standing up for God's will and Word, I wondered. Has my culture worn me down? Am I less pro-life today than I was decades ago? Am I more likely to soften what God says about immoral behavior — sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, pornography? Do I care less about people who lack faith in Jesus and are risking God's never-ending punishment?
I am grateful for God's grace in Jesus that allows me, like Jehoshaphat, to be forgiven for my backtracking and to be judged as someone who does what is right in the eyes of the Lord. But I also want to live up to the high status that God's grace has given me. His love inspires that desire.
What's this Jehoshaphat truth like in your life?
Prayer
Dear eternally loving and forgiving Father, because of my Savior Jesus, empower me to take your encouragement to heart, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).