April 1 - II Kings 10-12
Jehu was very brash and even cruel, but he did have a zeal for the Lord, and God blessed him for his faithfulness. By killing Ahab's family and all of the priests of Baal, Jehu was trying to rid the country of paganism. He would not have had to do all of this if the Israelites had followed God's instructions when they conquered the land. Since they were disobedient, Jehu was called by God to set things straight. However, it is usually harder to do the right thing after the wrong thing has already been done. The wrong thing has to be undone, and then, the right thing can be done. I know we all have seen this in our lives. We can avoid this, if we will obey God the first time.
The chaos continued even in Judah as Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, forcibly took the throne after her son's death. Joash took over as a child after six years of her reign. This would seem to be a bad situation, but God used it for good. Since Joash was young, Jehoiada, the priest, had a powerful influence on Joash. Therefore, under Joash the temple of Baal was destroyed and the temple of God was repaired. It was a time of revival in Judah. God always has a way to bring good out of a bad situation, if we will trust Him.
It is from Joash that many churches get the idea of having a chest for a special offering called Joash's chest. It was a good idea then, and it is still a good way to do it now. The idea was to have people give their free will offering when they came into the temple. The chest served as a reminder to the people each time they came to worship. Then, all of the money would go to the special project of repairing the temple. This way it did not get spent for other things. Today, we would call this a designated account. This is only one way that God's people were asked to give free will offerings for God's work in the Bible, but it shows us how important these offerings are to His work.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 13-15.
The chaos continued even in Judah as Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, forcibly took the throne after her son's death. Joash took over as a child after six years of her reign. This would seem to be a bad situation, but God used it for good. Since Joash was young, Jehoiada, the priest, had a powerful influence on Joash. Therefore, under Joash the temple of Baal was destroyed and the temple of God was repaired. It was a time of revival in Judah. God always has a way to bring good out of a bad situation, if we will trust Him.
It is from Joash that many churches get the idea of having a chest for a special offering called Joash's chest. It was a good idea then, and it is still a good way to do it now. The idea was to have people give their free will offering when they came into the temple. The chest served as a reminder to the people each time they came to worship. Then, all of the money would go to the special project of repairing the temple. This way it did not get spent for other things. Today, we would call this a designated account. This is only one way that God's people were asked to give free will offerings for God's work in the Bible, but it shows us how important these offerings are to His work.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 13-15.