“But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered ...”
Disclaimer: If you are looking for a political endorsement, you won’t find it here. This post is much more important than that.
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Is anyone content with the political climate these days?
Pronoun wars
Presidential approval ratings in the tank
Mar-a-Lago searches
Cross-party potshots
In-party bickering
One poll puts the Congressional Approval rating at a “pulse-barely-visible” seventeen percent (17%). Challenges with the Nixon and Carter administrations are starting to look like “the good old days.”
All this rancor — and so much of the news coverage around it — is depressing.
“God, what’s up?!”
Against these gray skies, I opened my Bible this morning and picked up where I left off yesterday: 2 Chronicles. For many, heart rates drop and eyes get droopy when traveling these pages. But this is the Word of God: TRUE truth and what we need for life and godliness.
This morning, God delivered another reminder that He is large and in charge; that he has great people everywhere, even in the bleakest moments and most challenging places.
King Ahaziah, a leader who would make most of our “bad” ones look like Cub Scouts, was dead, caught in the cross hairs of God’s judgment, meted out by the zealous Jehu. Jehu’s motto: Take no prisoners!
God is clear that Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, was largely to blame for her son’s errant ways. Think Cruella de Vil.
When Athaliah discovered that her son was now six-feet-under, she didn’t mourn, she schemed. This was her opportunity to seize the throne. Loving mother that she was, she “proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah” (2 Chronicles 22:10).
Yikes!
I suspect that many in the holy city were thinking, “God, what’s up?!” Didn’t you promise to seat a descendant from David’s line on the throne? Have the present political powers outwitted you?
Enter Jehosheba, a young woman whose name appears a whopping three times among the nearly 790,000 words in the Scripture. Despite turmoil and unrest reminiscent of the Capital riots, and with her own life on the line, she stepped up and “saved the day.”
10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. 12 He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land. 2 Chronicles 22:10-12 NIV
Reading about Jehosheba’s heroism reminded me of a truth I have seen over and again in the pages of Scripture:
“God has great people everywhere!”
When things look bleak . . . when hope fades and doubts soar . . . when it seems “the world is going to hell in a hand basket,” God reminds me that “He’s got this.” One way he displays his sovereignty and providence in world affairs is by placing one of his servants in just the right place at just the right time:
God made Esther, the unknown beauty queen, Queen so she could deliver God’s people from genocide. Esther 4:14
God placed Jael (whoever heard of her?) with tent peg in hand right to deliver the death blow to one of Israel’s arch enemies. Judges 4:18-21
God raised up Jehoiada, a gutsy spiritual leader, to restore his kingdom. 2 Chronicles 23
God placed believers in Caesar’s household . Philippians 4:22
And it is not just “world affairs.” God used Paul’s unnamed nephew to deliver the Apostle from a murderous gang (Acts 23:16-19). God raised up Rufus’ unnamed mother to encourage Paul in such ways that Paul writes, she “has been a mother to me, too.” (Romans 16:13). And God took a nobody teenager to welcome the Messiah in her womb (Luke 1:26-34).
Hey, the world belongs to God — and everything in it (Psalm 50:12). History is HIS redemptive story. Nothing escapes his notice (Psalm 139). Nothing thwarts his plan (Daniel 4:17,25, 32). And he laughs in the face of those who plot against him (Psalm 2).
And though he does not need us, he has this delightfully surprising way of using us — weak and sometimes foolish though we are — to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).
God has great people everywhere. He’s good like that. So don’t be surprised if you find yourself in just such a place to be his instrument to help accomplish his purposes today.