Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah and son of Asa, was one of the godliest kings in the history
of Israel as a nation, and is rightly considered to be a great hero of faith. His reign of 25 years is marked with God’s
blessings of peace, prosperity, protection, divine interventions and victory
over enemies. He was a tender hearted
man whose spirit longed for God’s guidance in private and public life. However, he had one weakness. The weakness of Jehoshaphat was his tendency
of forging alliances with wicked men whose hearts were against God.
Ahab
was the most wicked king of Israel and his two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, followed
in his footsteps. The wickedness of the
house of Ahab was well known throughout Judah and Israel; two of the greatest
prophets, Elijah and Elisha, confronted this evil household. But Jehoshaphat, with full knowledge of the wickedness
of the house of Ahab, forged a marriage alliance with them and later engaged in
allied warfare with common enemies.
The
first time Jehoshaphat aligned with Ahab, he was nearly killed. Later when he aligned with the sons of Ahab,
nothing he planned ever succeeded; one time he returned from the battle with
disgust and second time lost all the investment he made into building a maritime
fleet of ships. The entire fleet was
destroyed without ever making a single sail.
The
lessons for us to learn from a godly person like Jehoshaphat is that we must
not make little of the sins of our friends whose hearts are bent on
manipulating God’s grace into material gains.
I am witnessing some of my godly friends standing shoulder to shoulder
with pastors, missionaries, and namesake Christians who have made a name for
themselves with immorality, financial corruption and outright lies and
deceptions in missions. Instead of
standing on the truth and demanding holiness and integrity of character, these
godly men and women are being coerced into accepting such ungodly people into
their fellowship either for material gain or for the temptation of being put
into the place of position in their corrupt organizations. Not that we should not reach out to them but
to do so without ever pointing out their wickedness is to do what Jehoshaphat
did with Ahab and nearly paid the price. The church of Jesus Christ is in need of a Micaiah
(1K. 22:14) and an Elisha (2K. 3:14) who stood up to Ahab and Jehoram in front
of Jehoshaphat and rebuked them of their wickedness, and a Jehu (2Chr. 19:2)
who stood up to Jehoshaphat in declaring God’s displeasure for his alliance
with Ahab and Jehoram. Ahab and his
household perished in their wickedness but the Lord was gracious to Jehoshaphat
and relented his wrath because Jehoshaphat realized his mistakes and remained
faithful to the Lord his God for the rest of his days.
Be
friend of all but don’t make light of the wickedness of your friends least you be an
equal partner in their wickedness.
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