The Tragedy of Joash

There's an old saying that states that you will be known by the company you keep. In leadership, this fact is especially true. Those who you confide in the most, those who surround you and are constantly whispering in your ear, will have a great impact on whether you find success or find yourself driven into failure and destruction.

Just ask King Joash.

Joash ruled Judah from 835-796 B.C. and everything started out great for him. With Jehoiada serving as high priest and supervisor of the Levites, all was in control and going well as Joash, who took the throne when he was just seven years old, did what was right in the Lord's sight. With a solid mentor, Joash went forward with plans to renovate the Lord's temple, which had been ignored for quite some time. All was good.

And then Jehoiada died.

And as soon as he was gone, there was a void to be filled; and it was filled by rulers of Judah who apparently loved the way things were before and swayed Joash to abandon the temple renovations, abandon God and delve into idolatry.

Just like that, all of the attempts to rid Judah of idolatry by Jehoiada and Joash himself had vanished. Despite that, God sent Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, to try and set them straight. Of course, the people didn't take this well and killed him for calling out their sin.

Joash's reign, which had started out so promisingly, ended with him being killed by his own servants after being left to die by the Arameans after they had invaded and plundered Judah and Jerusalem. He was buried unceremoniously.

FIND A JEHOIADA

Who are you surrounding yourself with? Who is your Jehoiada? Without good counsel, godly counsel, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We make ourselves vulnerable to bad advice and become prone to bad decision-making that will not only end poorly for ourselves, but those that depend on us for leadership.

Find yourself a Jehoiada or two. Don't surround yourself with the wrong people because bad company does indeed corrupt character. When we find friends and people who are men and women that are after God's own heart, they will help point us in the right direction and help us do what is right in the Lord's sight. And more importantly, whether or not they are around to bring us counsel, lean on God's understanding above all things and not on the advice of men.

In Joash's case, God made repeated attempts to try and get him to get back on track. To turn away from the grave mistakes he was making. Joash had every opportunity to recommit himself to the Lord's will but refused. Don't let pride and arrogance prevent us from being swayed.

It's time that we all take inventory of our closest confidants and make sure we aren't setting ourselves for the kind of fall that Joash took.

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SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: 2 Chronicles 24:1-27, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 2:20-22, Proverbs 27:17