2 Chron. 23
“But in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage….” (2 Chron 23:1a). I’d say that Jehoiada took courage six years prior, when he chose to hide Joash in the house of God. It couldn’t have been easy keeping that secret from the Queen for six years, and I’m sure the consequences of being caught would have been severe. Jehoiada wasn’t trying to build up the courage to act all that time – he was waiting for Joash to get old enough to do what needed to be done. Waiting is hard, but so often it is what God requires of us. Knowing the right time to finally act is also hard. I don’t know what moved Jehoiada to “take courage” when he did, but it is evident that he was trusting in God’s promise to David and that God was with him.
And Jehoiada didn’t stop with placing Joash on his rightful throne. Verse 16 says, “And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the LORD’s people.” He restored the nation back to God. Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” That proved to be true in this case, as it says that all the people of the land rejoiced after the kingdom was redeemed from evil Athaliah. The Bible shows over and over again that God always has the right person in the right place to carry out His plan and His promise. And we can be sure that this will be so right up to the end.
Joel 2-3
The first part of Joel 2 paints another picture of utter devastation. Life and prosperity are swallowed up into death and destruction. And then there is the call to return to God, “for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him” (Joel 2:13b-14a). In the face of all that hopelessness and total devastation, there is hope. There is hope in God. As easily as He destroyed it all, God can bring it all back to life.
And indeed, Joel goes on to describe God’s restoration of His land and His people – a total restoration. Joel 2:25 says, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten”. That speaks to me of a restoration that is far deeper than simply putting crops back in the field. God doesn’t just “put back together”. God makes new. He doesn’t repair, He restores.
We see what happened to Judah. We see the stark contrast between God’s blessing and His curse. And we know that God’s final judgment still waits and that nothing can stand in the wake of it. But we also know that there is hope. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32a). There is hope and life with God, but death and destruction for those who turn away from Him. As for me, I choose God. Whatever comes, I trust in His mercy.
2 Cor. 10
“But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”….”For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor 10:12b, 18). Why is it that we humans have such a tendency to compare ourselves to each other? I think it comes from both pride and small-mindedness. God is the standard. Period. But God is a BIG standard, and if we measure ourselves against Him, we never amount to anything even remotely measurable. That’s humbling. We humans don’t like humble. We want to be god-like rather than like God.
And so, in our small-mindedness, we lower our standard. We use others as a measure. This feeds our pride, because we can many times in many ways convince ourselves that we are better than others. We can put them down to lift ourselves up. But to believe that our worth or approval is based on such a measure is a fallacy. The truth is that we are not one iota closer to God’s standard – the only standard that is actually a standard – no matter how we measure up to anyone else. The truth is that it is only through God’s grace that we can be approved at all. Let me set aside my pride, letting go of the notion that I can be higher than anything (god-like) and humbly accept with joy and gratitude that I can be like God (Christ-like) because of the grace I received through Jesus Christ!