Standing on your own two feet

Scripture

2 Kings 12:2 “All of his life Joash did what was pleasing in the Lords sight because Jehoida the priest instructed him”.

2 Chronicles 24:1 “But after Jehoida’s death the leaders of Judah came and bowed before King Joash and persuaded the king to listen to their advice”.

 

Observation

Joash had been raised by the priest Jehoida. The priest was like his father and from the age of seven Joash, as King, had allowed Jehoida to instruct him and assist him to make good decisions for the nation. But as soon as Jehoida dies, Joash is lost. He hasn’t learnt how to make decisions based on the principles that Jehoida had shown him throughout all of the years they spent together. What a tragedy! So what went wrong? Who failed here? They both did. Jehoida obviously made all of the decisions for Joash perhaps without ever letting the young king wrestle with the decision making process. It was easier to just tell him what to do. Joash failed to become a leader by never learning the responsibility of the decisions made – he abdicated this to Jehoida – and during the years of success it worked well but it was at the expense of the next generation. This tragic story is played out even today. This was a God appointed partnership that was created to bring godly rule to a people. Successive generations paid dearly for this tragedy by not having the ability to raise sons who would carry on a godly legacy handed healthily to them by their fathers.

 

Application

Helping my sons make right and good decisions is a responsibility I hold very dearly. This goes for my natural and spiritual children. But my role is not to dominate nor to remove their ability to make decisions for themselves. Otherwise they are never going to learn to stand on their own two feet. This will be tested when I’m not around to advise them or one day when I’m gone – but the ground for their success begins now. Instruction and direction is good and healthy but giving room for them to take risks and then apply cause and affect to those decisions whilst having me around means a healthy apprenticeship is being undertaken and they graduate whilst I’m still around.

 

Prayer

Father, how this tragedy must grieve your heart and yet we continue in its pattern again and again. Help me to learn from Joash and Jehoida – the things they got right as well as the things they got wrong. May the success of the next generation after me be seen in the outworking of these lessons. In Jesus name I ask it. Amen.

 

 

Jim Jung