2 Chronicles 19:2 KJV
And Jehu the
son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat,
Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is
wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
The first king Jehoshaphat
was a godly man in almost every respect
·
He cleaned
out idolatry in Judah
·
He prepared
his own heart to seek the Lord and
·
He made
steps to urge godliness among his citizenship
But Jehoshaphat had one
weakness that I have seen in many Christians; he did not know how to say “No.”
Jehoshaphat, in some ways, was too good; good to a fault. He was too kind to
separate himself and his people from the wicked king of Israel . I am
not suggesting he had to be at war with Israel . I am reminded that when the
division first happened God instructed Rehoboam not to retaliate. Though there
had been wars with Israel
almost since its inception, Jehoshaphat did not have to fight him.
Yet neither did he have to
consort with him. His friendly relations with Ahab left him in a compromising
position when Ahab asked him to join with him in battle against Syria . I
suspect that Jehoshaphat hoped the prophets would tell Ahab it was a bad idea
to go to war. Instead of playing the man and saying "No", he wanted
God to say it for him. But God seldom takes our stands for us. He has given us
His Word and it is our duty to obey it. Jehoshaphat went so far as to ignore
the one prophet who was honest enough to tell Ahab the truth.
All this compromise almost cost
Jehoshaphat his life and we do not know how many of his soldiers did die
because he buddied around with one he should not have. He could have benefited
from Jude 1:22-23 KJV
And
of some have compassion, making a difference:
And
others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment
spotted by the flesh.
Paul, as an example, was
certainly a loving man. The testimony of his personal sacrifice to win others
and to know the Lord is evidence of the tender heart of this preacher. However
when he came to Jerusalem
with Titus and was approached by those with a false gospel he refused to waste
an hour of his time with them saying in Galatians 2:4-5 KJV
And
that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy
out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage:
To
whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you.
Once again, we don’t have to
be mean spirited in any of our actions, but the Bible does teach us to be
strong concerning our convictions and refuse to compromise with
quasi-Christians, even if it feels like we will hurt their feelings in doing
so.
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