How not to Respond to Jehoiada

My post today will be shorter than usual, and that's saying something, since all my devotional posts are intentionally short.

Joash is the youngest King of Judah. Taking the throne at age 7, Joash could easily have found himself immature and not ready for such a huge role of leading the nation of Judah But he was wise enough to come to his uncle Jehoiada the High Priest for advice all through Jehoiada's life.

But eventually Jehoiada dies, and Joash loses his best counsel. It is a loss that could disrupt the good that Joash was doing and, and unfortunately, it does just that. The whole story can be found in II Kings 12 and II Chronicles 24. Since you know that I am not going to paste these whole chapters here, but I desire to ensure you know my information is accurate, I will be quoting one verse from each selection:

"And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest." ~II Chronicles 24:2

 "And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him." ~II Kings 12:2 

Joash had an instructor in his life. He had someone who would help him be able to serve the Lord. But it would seem that once that instructor moved on (died is a form of moving on, right?), we learned that Josiah hadn't actually found any real love for God himself. He never became sufficient in God.

Hey, I understand that it is truly beautiful to have a mentor in your life. I have had my share and they have been greatly helpful. But you must make sure that you do not become sufficient in just the use of counselors, but instead truly become sufficient in God's love for you, and your love for God. I urge you today- don't misuse your Jehoiadas. Learn also to depend on God yourself.

Self-Evaluations do not Help You Serve the Lord

This post today was too generic for me to consider to be written before now, but it is not my place to say that there isn't somebody who needs this generic reminder - a reminder that I could use today I'm sure as well.

We as Christians go through our particular lives and try to evaluate our own behavior. Seeing as how we desire to greatly be used by God, and hope for our efforts to be pleasing to the Lord (I can hope anyway), we take time from our days to consider whether our actions have pleased the Lord. 

This is all well and good, but we must be careful in this process. You see, it is easy for us to change our motivations or to deceive ourselves into believing that we are serving the Lord more than we actually are. 

On two different occasions in the book of Proverbs, the Lord proclaims this truth, 

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes." ~Proverbs 12:15

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes." ~Proverbs 21:2

The Lord explains that men have a tendency to find their ways to be the moral and proper way. The book of Ecclesiastes explains this further in chapter 5, verse 1,

"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil." 

I think we have thus far done much to understand that we don't like to admit even to ourselves that we may have erred, and that we instead tend to make ourselves think that our lives are more holy than they actually are. Now this means that our times of evaluation can be wasted and we may not necessarily expose our faults so that we can (through the Holy Spirit) conquer them.

Know that you aren't perfect, so if when you do an evaluation, you find no flaw in yourself, you have probably done something wrong. But how do you prevent that from happening?

The real thing I find here in those two verses from Proverbs aforementioned is that we should not rely solely upon our own evaluation, but entrust the help of others. Find some brutally honest friends, and ask them to tell you what they think of how you acted. I know, it's a scary thought to have to confide in someone else about your personal life, but it can be so worthwhile in the end.

And then of course, consult the One person who truly understands you and your motivations and who knows whether you are actually pleasing Him in your actions or not. He will reveal to you what you are truly seeking, and help you to seek the right thing.

So don't rely on your own self-evaluations. They are too easy for you to manipulate without you even knowing it. Instead seek some outside sources, like your friends, and of course the Lord. As our two verses in Proverbs say,

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." ~Proverbs 12:15

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts." ~Proverbs 21:2