Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: Why do you disobey the LORD’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the LORD, and now he has abandoned you!” Then the leaders plotted to kill Zechariah, and King Joash ordered that they stone him to death in the courtyard of the LORD’s Temple. That was how King Joash repaid Jehoiada for his loyalty—by killing his son. Zechariah’s last words as he died were, “May the LORD see what they are doing and avenge my death!” [2 Chronicles 24.20-22]
There is almost endless supply of lesson material just in this passage of scripture alone.
As I began to read today, the first thing that really spoke to me was that Athaliah killed her grandchildren (probably among other family members too). How depraved was that? Only Joash was rescued by an aunt and hidden in the Temple until he was around seven years old.
Joash, being just a boy, was mostly given direction by Jehoiada the priest at the time. Under Jehoiada's direction, Joash was a good king. But, after Jehoiada's death, Joash was without that good direction from Jehoiada and eventually even killed Jehoiada's son Zechariah.
Anyone who has read my last two days' posts has probably already figured out where this post is going...
Direction in life is simply not enough. People are always asking for direction. Prayer requests abound for direction. Even my own prayer lists have many peoples' requests for direction. But direction is not enough. We need more than just direction.
We need purpose.
This story so clearly shows that Joash had no purpose even though for a long time he had great direction. As holy as Jehoiada was, once he was gone, Joash 'crashed and burned.'
Probably, the failure here could as much be attributed to Jehoiada as to Joash. Besides, it was Jehoiada who taught Joash practically everything he knew! We see this almost daily as young people, who were "in church" all their lives, leave home and promptly betray the Lord. Ouch. You see, Jehoiada "fed Joash fish" but perhaps failed to "teach him to fish."
No amount of direction serves to substitute for purpose. If all we get is direction, we can always looks forward to failure further down the road because our source of direction may or may not be clear.
God wants purpose in each of us. And, although all Kingdom purpose is one and the same, if our direction is not from that Kingdom purpose "on the inside", it is someone else's and, like in the case of Joash, will not sustain us in then end.
May God's Kingdom purpose be established in each and every one of us. May we seek first His Kingdom!
Father, on this Father's Day, this lesson speaks to me. Thank You.
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