ARE YOU ON COURSE OR HEADING TOWARD SHIPWRECK?

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In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. 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.

The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

The other events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani, which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.

Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade.

Then Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king. Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.

2 Chronicles 20:31-37, 21:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have looked over the reign of Jehoshaphat, we have seen a king who stayed loyal to God most of the time but still had his flaws. That makes him like most other believers. After all, no one is spiritually perfect and I mean no one. As we finish reading about Jehoshaphat’s time on Judah’s throne, we see a snapshot of this truth as it applied to him.

On one hand, Jehoshaphat was a man who did right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father Asa. A look back at this passage reminds us about those ways:

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated. 1 Kings 15:11-15

Pretty good right? But we need to take the rest of what the scriptures said about Jehoshaphat into account.

For on the other hand, he did not remove the high places where worship of false gods took place. As a result of this inaction, the people still had not set their hearts on God.

Additionally, we read where he made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel whose ways were wicked. The alliance involved the construction of a fleet of trading ships. Now, you would think Jehoshaphat would have learned his lesson after drawing God’s wrath for associating with another evil Israelite king named Ahab but he didn’t. And so God did what he had to do. He wrecked all of the ships so they could not set sail for trade or anything else for that matter.

Friends, this is what happens when we choose to turn from God to evil and sin. Any efforts undertaken with this mindset will not prosper or flourish. Rather, God will run them aground and wreck them as easily as he did the trade ships in Jehoshaphat’s time.

We know God sees everything and so nothing goes beyond His sight. We also know He hates sin and will not bless anyone living in it.

Given these two truths, we should ever be striving to work with and not against God, setting sail on the course He plots for us in accordance with His will and way.

Wouldn’t you agree that it’s better than being shipwrecked?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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