5/12/2011 5:47:45 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Joash—a shallow faith; (struggling)
Bible Reading
& Meditation
Reference: 2Ki. 12:4-16;
2Chron. 24:4-16
Message of the verses: “4 ¶
Then Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the sacred
things which is brought into the house of the LORD, in current money, both the
money of each man’s assessment and all the money which any man’s heart prompts
him to bring into the house of the LORD, 5
let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and
they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be
found." 6 But it came about that in
the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damages
of the house. 7 Then King Jehoash called
for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests and said to them, "Why
do you not repair the damages of the house? Now therefore take no more money
from your acquaintances, but pay it for the damages of the house." 8 So the priests agreed that they would take no
more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the house. 9 But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored
a hole in its lid and put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes
into the house of the LORD; and the priests who guarded the threshold put in it
all the money which was brought into the house of the LORD. 10 When they saw that there was much money in
the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and tied it in bags
and counted the money which was found in the house of the LORD. 11 They gave the money which was weighed out
into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of
the LORD; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on
the house of the LORD; 12 and to the
masons and the stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the
damages to the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to
repair it. 13 But there were not made
for the house of the LORD silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels
of gold, or vessels of silver from the money which was brought into the house
of the LORD; 14 for they gave that to
those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of the LORD.
15 Moreover, they did not require an
accounting from the men into whose hand they gave the money to pay to those who
did the work, for they dealt faithfully. 16
The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings
was not brought into the house of the LORD; it was for the priests.”
“4 Now it came about after this that Joash
decided to restore the house of the LORD. 5
He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go out to
the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of
your God annually, and you shall do the matter quickly." But the Levites
did not act quickly. 6 So the king
summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, "Why have you not
required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the levy fixed
by Moses the servant of the LORD on the congregation of Israel for the tent of
the testimony?" 7 For the sons of
the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and even used the holy
things of the house of the LORD for the Baals. 8 So the king commanded, and they made a chest
and set it outside by the gate of the house of the LORD. 9 They made a proclamation in Judah and
Jerusalem to bring to the LORD the levy fixed by Moses the servant of God on
Israel in the wilderness. 10 All the
officers and all the people rejoiced and brought in their levies and dropped
them into the chest until they had finished. 11
It came about whenever the chest was brought in to the king’s officer by
the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, then the king’s
scribe and the chief priest’s officer would come, empty the chest, take it, and
return it to its place. Thus they did daily and collected much money. 12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who
did the work of the service of the house of the LORD; and they hired masons and
carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, and also workers in iron and
bronze to repair the house of the LORD. 13
So the workmen labored, and the repair work progressed in their hands,
and they restored the house of God according to its specifications and
strengthened it. 14 When they had
finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada; and
it was made into utensils for the house of the LORD, utensils for the service
and the burnt offering, and pans and utensils of gold and silver. And they
offered burnt offerings in the house of the LORD continually all the days of
Jehoiada.
“ 15 ¶ Now when Jehoiada reached
a ripe old age he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old at his death.
16 They buried him in the city of David
among the kings, because he had done well in Israel and to God and His house.”
The
theme of these verses is repairing the temple of the Lord and it seems that it
took a long time to accomplish this project.
It could be because of the king being so young when he began to reign
and so Jehoiada may have had his hand in helping too long and therefore this
caused friction so that the house of the Lord did not get repaired. There was also an issue as to where the money
would come from, but eventually it all got worked out and there was a box made
to put into the temple so that people would have a chance to participate in
this project and the Lord moved hearts and the money was collected and the house
of the Lord was repaired.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The
temple of the Lord is in the bodies of the believers today and so believers
must care for their bodies for this reason.
In
the text above it is said that the wicked queen mother who reigned before Joash
had taken things from the house of the Lord to use it in Baal worship and
therefore the house of the Lord was now in need of repair. Satan tries to destroy my body through
temptations and there are times when I need to strengthen myself so that I can
be stronger in my service for the Lord.
This takes time and effort to accomplish this.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Give myself to the Lord today for worship and for
service.
2.
Remember that there is a spiritual, unseen battle
going on and I am in need of the spiritual armor.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
5/12/2011 6:08:45 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment