2 Chronicles 23-24: Joash and the Lesson of Finishing Strong

"Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness of Jehoida, Zechariah's

father, had shown him, but killed his son." 2 Chronicles 24:22a

When's the last time you went for a run, or a bike, or maybe even a swim? In each of these activities, there's one goal and one goal alone: perseverance. When you get to the end of your workout, you want to be able to look back and say that you put in your best effort and finished strong. Spiritually, the same thing is true. When we get to the end of our lives, we want to be able to say what Paul said: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7). Yet, how do we do this? Well, looking at the negative example of Joash, let us learn how we ought to avoid his mistakes and finish strong.

As we are continuing our study through the kings of Israel, we come today to a guy named Joash. Joash has a most interesting story in his rise to kingship. It turns out that all of his brothers were murdered by the evil queen Athaliah, but he was hidden by Athaliah's daughter, that he might not be murdered, thus destroying the Davidic line of kingship. That story alone points to God's providential hand upon his life, but nevertheless, that's another devotional for another time. Yet amidst the evil reign of Athaliah, God strengthens Jehoiada the priest [once again, try saying that ten times fast] to lead a religious and social reform in Israel. First, he established Joash as king, even though he was only seven years old at the time. Next, he killed the evil queen, destroyed the idols in the land of Judah, and put the levitical structure back in order. Things were going great in the land of Israel, all because of Jehoiada the priest. Yet, it was Joash's turn as a young king to take the reigns, and he starts out well. Deciding to repair and even upgrade Solomon's temple, Joash takes great responsibility, alongside Jehoiada, to collect taxes from the people that the temple might be restored. Everything goes to plan, and the temple is repaired. All things are great in the land of Israel at this point, but it's about to go downhill FAST.

Next, we read of the death of Jehoiada. The man who had supported Joash all of these years was gone, so now what happens? Quickly, we find Israel once again rebelling against the ways of the Lord, even rebuking the prophets whom the Lord had sent. And if this wasn't enough, we quickly find Joash's fall as well. Although he had done much good for Israel in restoring the temple, he ended up fearing man instead of God, and killing Jehoiada's son, who was also a righteous priest pointing people back to God. In the end, scripture tells us that Joash "did not remember the kindness" of Jehoiada, his great and fearless leader, and thus killed his very own son. Because of this, the Lord causes Joash to be murdered. Not exactly a happy ending, if you ask me.

Yet amidst this sad story, we can learn one (if not many) valuable lessons. That lesson is this, that if we desire to persevere to the end, we must never forget the kindness of our God. This, in a nutshell, was what led to Joash's destruction. When Jehoiada was alive, wrapping his arm around the young king and guiding his ways and pointing him to the fear of the Lord, Joash did great. But when the godly mentor in his life perished, he forgot all of the kindness that he had given to him, and ultimately all of the kindness that the Lord had given to him. Rather than relying on God's counsel and ways, Joash started relying on himself and the opinion of the people. In the end, he didn't finish strong because he forgot. He forgot God's kindness towards his account, he forgot the ways of the Lord, and he forgot the importance of persevering until the end.

In our own lives, we ought not to be like Joash, but rather like Christ. In his strongest point of temptation, our Lord did not give up. In the 40 days in the wilderness, Christ remembered the Lord's Word and promises. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ remembered that his food was to do the will of the one who sent him. On the cross, he remembered his purpose, and thus gave himself up for the sins of mankind. Beloved, let us fix our eyes on remembering the kindness of the Lord. If we turn our eyes to his statutes, his ways, and his deliverance on account of our troubled souls, we will persevere. Yet if we soon forget the ways of God, we will end up like Joash, with no well-run race to boast of.