Saturday, October 10, 2009

Today's Passage: 2 Kings 11-12

Joash learns a valuable lesson...one that is still very valuable to us today. Even at a young age, King Joash saw that the temple was in disrepair and knew that it must be fixed. He came up with a plan that seemed easy and simple: use the priests and their access to the offerings for the money to fix the problems.

It seemed easy and painless...and with many things that are easy and painless, it didn't work very well. Years passed and the temple was still in disrepair. Money that should have gone to the temple went to the priests. Even more, money that should have gone to repair the temple went to the gold and sliver items inside the temple. Easy and simple wasn't getting the job done, and the temple of the Lord was way too important for this to continue.

So instead of easy and painless, Joash got serious about fixing what needed to be fixed. Instead of trusting others, he gave direct orders about how the money was to be spent. Instead of ornaments for a broken temple, the focus moved to fixing the walls. Even when another king tried to attack Jerusalem, Joash gave up some of the prized possessions of the temple to keep it safe. The Lord's work became so important to him that he was willing to sacrifice in order to see it through to completion.

Many times God calls us to something and we look for the easy way to get it done. We give it time when we can...or maybe throw money at it...or get to it when nothing else is more important...and we wonder why we don't ever get things done for God. When God calls, the work is always important, and it always deserves our best effort! Are we willing to sacrifice our time, money and talent when God calls, or does He just get what is left over from other things that we think are more important?