Low Priorities

Low Priorities

The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

2 Kings 12:3

IN WORD Joash was a decent king—for a while. The verdict on his reign is split: While under the guidance of Jehoiada the priest, he did well. He restored and maintained the Temple, and he did “what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (v. 2). But after Jehoiada had died, Joash was a different king. He killed a priest and bought off the Syrian army with the Temple’s sacred objects.

God’s assessment of Joash’s reign is two brief chapters: 2 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 24. He was neither Judah’s finest king nor its worst. He was good part of the time and bad part of the time. And one reason for the shift may have been the problem in verse 3: He never dealt with the high places.

Why not? Perhaps he was somehow attached to them. Or perhaps it was simply a problem of neglect. Either way, his reign demonstrated the condition of his heart. In a time of peace, he tolerated the high places. In a time of war, he violated the Temple. The sacred objects were apparently more expendable than the places of false worship.

That’s easy for us to judge, but we can be just as double-minded. We often find time for a favorite hobby but say we just don’t have time to serve in our church’s ministries. We find ways to pay for that vacation or new gadget, but we cut back our missions giving when things are tight. In other words, we tolerate the high places, even while selling off the sacred parts of our lives. We act like Joash.

IN DEED There’s nothing wrong with hobbies and vacations, of course. The problem is in making them a higher priority than the Kingdom. The high places in our hearts are often not what we zealously pursue but what we passively tolerate. We avoid dealing with idols and are then forced to make painful compromises to our true worship. We fall into the sin of Joash, and we pay the price.

Avoid double-minded worship. Flee from compromise. Get rid of the high places in your life.

The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be; help me to tear it from Thy throne, and worship only Thee.

—WILLIAM COWPER