Don't Be Driven By The Wind

2 Chronicles 24:17-19 -  After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God's anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem.  Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

 

King Joash’s early years were marked with a passion to serve God.  He reinstituted the tax collections that Moses had established to completely repair the damage his grandmother had done to God’s temple. The money collected went to pay for the masons and construction workers that meticulously worked to bring the temple back to its original glory.

 

But when the influence of Jehoiada faded from his life…he clung to the leaders and officials that had come to pay their last respects to his uncle. He quickly abandoned the teachings of God…and abandoned the great temple he had worked so hard to repair.  He reverted quickly back to the asherah poles and gods of his grandmother.

 

Joash was driven by the influence of others in his life because he failed to ever establish a relationship with God for himself. He was driven by the wind…just like in James 1:6….  “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” His evry decision was based on the people around him…not the God he had been taught to love.

 

Our directions in life must come from God and God alone.  NOTHING…and NO ONE….must have final influence over our hearts but him. God is constant and solid…like the rock he built his church on…but man is fickle…blowing the way he sees his bread buttered the easiest way. A relationship with God is the only way to survive and thrive.

 

Father…I thank you for this story that reminds me to keep my relationship with you the most important thing in my life.  Show me how to deepen my connection with you….and listen even more closely to the directions you give me to live for you.  Help me check all counsel given by ‘people’ in my life against your holy word...and make sure that it is God breathed and God true. Amen.