I always loved the story of Joash, "The Boy King," when I was growing up. What was not to love? He was a jit, yet he was ruling a country. Not only that, but his entrance was so grand. :-) That's pretty awesome for a boy who was only seven years old. As I read the story now I have noticed a few new things that remind me of how experience may not always seem to work in your favor, but on God's side, they always do.
After Athaliah, Joash's grandmother, went on killing spree of all her family, Joash's aunt stole him and hid him. Now of all the words that you could insert there, stole is an interesting one to use. Strong. For Joash, that was not fun, good thing he was a baby. But, they took him to a safe place, the temple. Irony: Judah was so far from God that Athaliah never thought of checking the church for her family. Deep.
Finally, I admired the strong stand that Jehodiah, the priest took. He orchestrated the crowing of Joash. Commanded the special palace guards on what to do and made sure everything was planned out to the 't' and organized.
There is soo much to be taken from this one chapter. For one, experiences in life are what help to shape who you are. Some times those experiences can be crazy. Athaliah was just crazy, she done lost her marbles. Being taken from your family as a baby, never to know them. Whether or not your family is crazy or sane, it's a blessing to know them. Then you have to prepare to take the throne at seven years old. There are spears and shields all around you as if your life may be taken at any moment, but you have to be a big boy-- a man. This is no normal llife. How many of us could handle such a call. So many people can barely handle the call that God has given them in their families or careers, let alone leading a country. The crazy thing is that each individuals call is great in the eyes of the Lord, which makes them great. Wow.... we must all answer God's call without comparing it to that of the person next to us. When we do that, we run the risk of convincing ourselves not to answer.
In this story it was imparative for each person to play their part. Joash had to say yes, Jehoiada had to say yes to the Lord, the temple guards had to risk their lives by betraying the queen, Jehosheba, Joash's aunt, had to answer God's calling and take the child. Crazy, what would the story been like had one of the main characters said no to God? Why was it so organized. What was God doing? What was the end of the story to look like? Well, the end is yet to come. We are all still apart of the story. Because all of the these people obeyed God, God was finally able to put Judah back on the right track. King after king had disobeyed God. It seemed as though God was no longer good enough. But, after Joash becomes king, it is time to destroy all of Baal's temple and followers. This time however, "all the people of the land," took that temple down. All. In past chapters, it would say that the a king would order for Baal temples to be done away, but not this time. This time the story points out a change in the people. They took the reigns and were ready to go wherever God called. That is what this whole story is about! God wanted to show his people hat it is possible to follow Me. Look at all of these people who have been following me for years. Look at how faithful they are to me. You can be faithful too. God wants to use our lives to bring others to His side! There is not a person out there who has no influence in someone else's life. It could be a stranger or someone you know. We just need to say yes to the Lord and be used so that we can finally go HOME!
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