From the womb to the tomb we will hear a multitude of voices flow in and out of our ears. The voice we depend on at birth was heard from the womb with joyful anticipation of our birth. We loved that voice first who held and protected us in her womb—the voice of mom.  We also heard and recognized a deeper voice, too. The voice our dad was distinctive, deeper and would get our attention quickly when we were called to attention by all the names given to us at birth!  Other voices were heard as other family members leaned over the crib to see us for the first time. Later, voices of certain relatives will feel it is there job to speak their voice over us to guide us to their ways while others voices will encourage us in the ways of the Lord they trust. 

A time will come five years or so later when we enter a new world of voices—School. We are brought by the hand of our mom or dad into a rectangle room with colorful posters.  We hear lots of other voices of children like us with a grown up’s voice guiding the chaos into learning things we didn’t know before coming. It is the teacher’s voice we learn to trust and rely on most.

From the elementary classroom we move on to enter a larger place with even more voices—Middle and High School. There are many more classrooms where we rotate with all the other voices of adolescents to hear and learn from the voices of many teachers and administration who teach a plethora of information every day, all day long, until we graduate.  These voices add to those of our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and all other family members who feel they can contribute to our lives with their voice.  From graduation, we learn that there are many voices who speak many opinions on life either in a college setting and/or in the workplace.  Voices everywhere have something to say.  Who do we listen to now?

Jehoiada, the priest, was the voice of God to Joash.  From infancy, Jehoiada was also the voice he heard as a male father figure. The only other voice he heard came from his nurse who cared for all his physical needs. His own father, and former king of Judah was killed along with the rest of his family by the enemy.  God led Jehoiada to quickly hide and protect the infant because God had promised that a person born in the hereditary line of David would always be placed on the throne as king.  God kept His promise. Jehoiada and the nurse trusted God’s voice and became part of the Promise!

 2 Chronicles 24

Joash Repairs the Temple

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. ² Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest. ³ Jehoiada chose two wives for him, and he had sons and daughters.

⁴ Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the Lord. ⁵ He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once.

⁶ Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?”

⁷ Now the sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into the temple of God and had used even its sacred objects for the Baals.

⁸ At the king’s command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the Lord. ⁹ A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. ¹¹ Whenever the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. ¹² The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the temple of the Lord. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s temple, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the temple.

¹³ The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it. ¹⁴ When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made articles for the Lord’s temple: articles for the service and for the burnt offerings, and also dishes and other objects of gold and silver. As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁵ Now Jehoiada was old and full of years, and he died at the age of a hundred and thirty. ¹⁶ He was buried with the kings in the City of David, because of the good he had done in Israel for God and his temple.

The Wickedness of Joash

¹⁷ After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’”

²¹ But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ²² King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”

²³ At the turn of the year, the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people. They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus. ²⁴ Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men, the Lord delivered into their hands a much larger army. Because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, judgment was executed on Joash. ²⁵ When the Arameans withdrew, they left Joash severely wounded. His officials conspired against him for murdering the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they killed him in his bed. So he died and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

²⁶ Those who conspired against him were Zabad, son of Shimeath an Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith a Moabite woman. ²⁷ The account of his sons, the many prophecies about him, and the record of the restoration of the temple of God are written in the annotations on the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son succeeded him as king.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

As long as Joash listening to the voice of Jehoiada the priest, great things of God happened under the young king’s leadership.  Worship of God alone was restored worship in the temple and the altars of Baal were destroyed. But when Jehoiada voice ceased; Joash turned his back on God to endure God’s discipline and punishment.

Surrounded by voices who honored God, chosen by the priest, Jehoiada who heard the voice of God; Joash made God-honoring decisions. When his counselor’s voice ceased; Josiah listened to everyone around him who wanted to return to evil ways.  Joash didn’t replace the Voice who kept him safe and secure. He chose the voice of evil who led him to selfish evil deeds of darkness. God gave Joash many chances to repent. But Joash would not listen to the Voice he needed to hear most of all. 

Max Lucado writes of choosing the right voice;

“Ever wonder why there were two crosses next to Christ? Why not six or ten? Ever wonder why Jesus was in the center? Why not on the far right or far left? Could it be that the two crosses on the hill symbolize one of God’s greatest gifts? The gift of choice.

The two criminals have so much in common. Convicted by the same system. Condemned to the same death. Surrounded by the same crowd. Equally close to the same Jesus. In fact, they begin with the same sarcasm: “In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (Matthew 27:44).

But one changed. “Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’ ” (Luke 23:42–43).

Think about the thief who repented. Though we know little about him, we know this: He made some bad mistakes in life. He chose the wrong crowd, the wrong morals, the wrong behavior. But would you consider his life a waste? Is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made? No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made. In the end all his bad choices were redeemed by a solitary good one.” Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

All of us have listened to the wrong voices and followed those voices into a bondage of bad circumstances that overwhelm us as a result.  But that does not have to be the end of our story!  

We have a choice still to listen to the Voice who gives us a new start with a new life that lasts for eternity. Listen to Him!  Love Him back, trust His voice, ready to follow the Voice who knows our name and calls to us to follow with humbled obedience!  This Voice of choice is filled with compassion, love, mercy, and grace. This Voice listens to our voice of repentance with pure joy and immediately cleanse our hearts of all that does not belong there. 

This Voice goes to work to renew our minds, training us to think more like He thinks.  His Voice calms and soothes us with peace unlike all other voices of this world in good times and in times of challenge.  God’s Voice called His Holy Spirit then becomes a forever Counselor for life who leads us to Truth and all that is holy!  Listen to God—the Voice of Choice for abundant living that leads to eternal life. It begins with our voice of sincere surrender to Him.

May God be our Voice of Choice forever and ever, Amen!  God never fails!

THE REST OF THE STORY—

Jehoiada died at the advanced age of one hundred and thirty. He was so beloved by the people that he was buried with the kings. But when Jehoiada passed and his voice no longer heard; King Joash listened to the voices of evil. He had two choices:  The voice of God or the voice of evil.  He chose evil.  His behaviors soon reflected his true faith.  This abandoning of faith the fault of Jehoiada, for the high priest had faithfully taught Joash the Scriptures. The problem was Joash’s shallow faith and his desire to please the voices of all the other leaders of the land, “the leaders of Judah” who visited Joash and asked him to be more lenient in matters of religion (vv. 17-18). By listening to his voices of choice over God’s Voice; idolatry, once again, moved mightily into Judah and Jerusalem.

A good beginning is no guarantee of a good ending. King Joash had every encouragement to become a godly man, but he didn’t take advantage of his opportunities by taking God’s truth into his heart. God spoke through his prophets to warn Joash—but he would not listen. King Joash even plotted with his other voices of choice to have Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, stoned to death because he rebuked the king for his sins. Imagine murdering the son of the very people who saved your life!

Following the wrong voice leads only to despair, deception, destruction, which ends in death forever.  Choose your influencing voices wisely!  Above all however, may our Voice of Choice always be the One who protects, provides, and redeems.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”—Jesus, John 10:27-28

Lord,

May we be the ones who hear your Voice with understanding so that we may tell others what you have said to us so they will know and listen to your voice, too.

In Jesus Name, Amen