Finding A Rule That’s Right

I love a good political thriller.

The intrigue, the ambition, the aspiration, the connections, the soaring hopes, the corrupting, the demise, the mess and in some cases the lessons to learn that might point to some sort of redemption. Might. A lot of the political thrillers I come across don’t tend to have much in the way of anything redemptive. It’s a pity. It doesn’t have to all end up in a mess, but there are some similar patterns surrounding the narratives.

Some people are put off by political thrillers, just like they’re put off from politics as a whole. That’s understandable when its seen as an exploration of some of the less pleasant aspects of humanity. The wheeling and dealing, underhanded machinations, desperate bid for power with no idea how to use it but every desire to cling onto it, those elements don’t give it a good picture.

My view on it, though is that everything is political. It is an expression of our contribution to the answer to the question of how will we be ruled and how will power be exercised on an individual and communal level. That’s can be seen in the choices we make for what we eat and how we get it as it is to if we vote and if so who for.  Awareness of that and intentional engagement with that does not have to mean becoming heavily politically conscious and deep and profound. It does, however mean that we appreciate an aspect of life that’s not always addressed n a considered manner to stimulate thought.

For me one of the reasons I got so into political intrigue was the Bible. Politics is in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation – there isn’t a book in there that doesn’t have political implications in it – that includes Song of Solomon and 3 John. I could outline that, but that would be a course in itself.

One section of the library that is the Bible that full of the political intrigue is Chronicles. There’s a story in there that perked my interest and it had to do with the reign of a King called Joash. The request for a king by God’s chosen people to be like their neighbours was a rejection of God as King. It was not the first time that God’s chosen had rejected Him. It was a pattern evident from Adam’s rejection in the garden, but God is ever giving an opportunity for redemption.

At this stage in their monarchy experience, God’s people have been ruptured into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were called to godly standards of conduct and that was to be expressed especially by the King. Despite that prophetic call, king after king in both kingdoms veered away to some degree from that standard. As they veered away so the state of the people tended to likewise turn away from godly standards which was seen not just in idolatrous behaviour but accompanied moral decay and social injustices heightened.

The thing about Joash I find fascinating is how his reign is recorded in Chronicles as a tale of two parts. He came to the throne at a very young age and was succeeding a rule that was rebelling against God. Indeed his predecessor had sought to snuff out any rightful claim to the throne in order to establish a rule that focused on idol worship and the decadent repercussions that went with that. In essence it took a religious and military coup to oust that administration and put in place the rightful ruler.

Established as the monarch at such a young age, Joash took a great deal of counsel from the religious authorities of the day embodied particularly in the high priest of the time, Jehoiada. The relationship was so influential that Joash sought to see proper repairs to religious institutions even to the point of instructing the resources to be channelled into that when the authorities did not prioritise it. To all intents and purposes Joash had godly intentions and desires in that first part of his reign …

The key to that, as it was chronicled, was that as long as Jehoiada was around, Joash would do what was right in God’s sight. When the high priest died, a different set of influences effectively swayed Joash against that godly inclination to such a degree that Joash even killed Jehoiada’s son when he challenged the corruption taking place. Ironically a king who was put in place through a fatal overthrow of the incumbent ended up himself being assassinated.

As you can gather, that’s a brief summary of a reign recorded in the majestic library that is the library. It is certainly worth your while checking the story in more detail in 2 Chronicles.

I note the fascination with Joash, because we don’t have to be a king ruling over a people to be in a position where we’re open to the influences of others. We make decisions every day from basic questions of what time we’ll wake up to more complex questions like what will we do with whatever money we might get in the pay packet. There are influences ever around us and inside us tugging away to lead us in a direction that we don’t see at the time.

Following Jesus is about continuing to allow Him to influence those decisions. In a greater way than Jehoaida, Jesus is ever available to counsel and guide us in a way that leads to life affirming decisions. We can rely on Him totally to help us remain on the righteous as out great High Priest. The option, however, remains for us to reject Him, depose Him and refer to other sources of influence that elevate us and our way of running our lives even if it runs it to ruin.

We don’t have to copy the pattern of good start and bad ending. There is hope of redemption. We can find a rule that’s right.

(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden