2 Chronicles Chapter 19: Verse 6 (NIV)
He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict.
2 Chronicles Chapter 20: Verses 35-37 (NIV)
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.
For the majority of his reign, Jehoshaphat had led well, and sought after the ways of God. He appointed judges to oversee decisions on his behalf, and reminded them that they were acting, not just on behalf of other people, but on behalf of God. Wise advice. However, he seemed to have a bit of a blind spot when it came to entering into alliance with the Kings of Israel, who at that time were very wicked, and far from God. First it was Ahab, then here, Ahab’s son. We read in the earlier chapters of chronicles relating to Jehoshaphat, that he had some sort of tie with Ahab through marriage. Perhaps there was then some kind of misplaced family loyalty. But God had reprimanded him the first time, on his alliance with Ahab, yet here we see him make the same mistake again, and it was to prove costly.
There are two lessons which struck me from these verses;
We need to always be mindful of what we do and how we do it. We’re not just acting on behalf of ourselves, or even someone else. As Christians we are doing it as a representative for God. Is it something we should be doing, or are we just doing it for our own benefit?
Secondly, whilst we should not cut ourselves off from people who don’t share our faith, we need to be careful about being in such a close alliance with them, that their attitude and behaviour has a major impact on us. Are they doing things that we feel uncomfortable with? Is it something we wouldn’t like people to know we were involved with. We may do so initially for the right reasons, there may be an element of family loyalty. We might feel we are being a good witness to them. But we also need to remember the advice Jehoshaphat gave to his judges, but didn’t take heed of himself. Remember who it is we are representing, and make sure we are doing as He wants us to.
Dear Lord,
Thank You for being a loving parent, showing us when we have made mistakes. But help me to pay heed when You do, so that I don’t do the same things over and over. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.