Inglorious Ends
2 Kings 12:17-21; 2 Kings 13:1-9
As long as we are with the Lord, He is with us. Then our enemies are His enemies, and He shows Himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him. See 2 Chronicles 15:2. So Joash found it in the earlier part of his reign. We need to ponder the blessings set out in Psalms 81:14-16, as guaranteed to the life which is at one with God. But directly Joash listened to the princes and forsook the house of God and gave license to the Asherim and idols, God was turned against the people and became their enemy. See 2 Chronicles 24:23-25. The reign that commenced in sunshine was sadly overcast, and the king perished by the hands of conspirators and never came to the sepulcher of the kings.
Then disaster after disaster befell the nation. They had to learn that they had been chosen for a special service in the world and could not be as others. Yet amid these dark days, what gleams of light there were! The Lord hearkened, 2 Kings 13:4; He gave Israel a savior, 2 Kings 13:5; He was gracious and had compassion and would not cast them from His presence, 2 Kings 13:23. Even when the Lord chastens us sore, He does not give us over unto death, Psalms 118:18. There is a “needs-be,” but there is also a “thus-far-and-no-farther.”