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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Saturday, 11 October 2025:
2 Kings 12:1-2 — In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
Jehoash (or Joash) began his reign at seven years old and initially ruled well because he submitted to the spiritual leadership of Jehoiada. The phrase “because Jehoiada the priest instructed him” reveals both a strength and a warning. His faithfulness depended on the influence of a godly mentor. When Jehoiada later died, Jehoash’s integrity faltered (2 Chronicles 24:17–18). This highlights how critical it is for us to root our obedience directly in God, not merely in the example of others. Mentors and spiritual leaders are gifts from God, but dependence upon them must never replace personal devotion to Him. Like Paul said, “Follow me, as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1) — not instead of Christ.
In American politics there is much debate as to whether a person is equipped for the job (as there should be), but often what is more important is who that person surrounds themselves with for counsel and guidance. As an eight-year-old (2 Kings 22), Josiah was not equipped for the job, but he was surrounded by godly administrators and counsellors. Note that the first counsellor mentioned in 2 Kings 22 is his mother. Parents are critical to the success of their children. We will see later that Josiah slips when he does not listen to sound, godly counsel.
As mentioned above, dependence upon mentors, leaders, or anything external to us must never replace personal devotion to the Lord. Likewise, we must not be deceived into thinking that our spiritual disciplines, routines, or rituals are the source of holiness. These things are helpful, even essential at times, but they are not sufficient. They can guide and guard us, but they cannot transform us. Only Christ can do that. The danger, as James warns, is that we may become hearers of the Word and not doers (James 1:22–25), mistaking knowledge for transformation. Even diligent Bible study can become deceptive if it stops at information rather than leading to intimacy. Knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus, truly sharing in His life and becoming one with Him, as He prayed in John 17.
Obedience that flows from fear, habit, or self-discipline alone cannot sustain us, nor does it please the heart of God. What He desires is love, love that makes obedience natural, not forced; desired, not merely required. As 1 John 5:3 declares, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Love transforms duty into delight. The one who truly loves Christ does not obey because he must, but because he cannot imagine doing otherwise.
So yes, establish your disciplines, your routines, your hedges against sin, but do not mistake them for righteousness itself. They are scaffolding meant to support growth, not substitutes for spiritual maturity. Examine your heart in the light of the Holy Spirit: if the mentors were gone, if the structures were stripped away, if the fear of punishment or the promise of reward were removed, would what remains still look like the image of Christ? Would there still be in you a heart that longs to do the Father’s will purely out of love for Him?
This is the test of true transformation. Until our will becomes one with His, until His Word is not just what we study but what we are, we remain dependent upon grace and in need of continued formation. So yes, use every tool God provides to grow in holiness, but keep your eyes on the greater goal: not mere behavior modification, but Christ Himself. He alone is sufficient, and He alone is the life within us that makes true obedience possible.
2 Kings 12:3 — Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places.
Though Jehoash did much good, he failed to eradicate all idolatry. The “high places” represent compromises, areas in our hearts we allow to remain half-devoted to God. Spiritual renewal must be total. Partial obedience is still disobedience (1 Samuel 15:22–23). We cannot expect the full blessing of God while maintaining secret altars to other gods — comfort, pleasure, pride, control. Jehoash’s story reminds us to examine where our own “high places” remain unchallenged.
There can be no compromise with sin. The slightest bit of disobedience to God’s commands can have devastating consequences, often not revealed for many years. Obviously, to disobey God in any area is to fail to respect Him as God at all. Either He is sovereign or He isn’t. What are you still hanging on to that detracts from your purity? “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked” (Proverbs 25:26). How much pollution are you willing to accept in your drinking water? How much sin are you willing to accept in your relationship with God, which is your life?
2 Kings 12:4, 5 — Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed, the money from the assessment of persons, and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD, let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them repair the house wherever any need of repairs is discovered.”
Here, Jehoash’s concern for the repair of the temple shows his desire to honor God’s dwelling place. True revival includes restoring not just the heart but the house of worship. Yet his plan also reveals God’s practical wisdom — He provided multiple streams of giving: obligation (“assessed money”) and generosity (“a man’s heart prompts him”). God’s work advances through both structured faithfulness and willing hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7). Repairing the temple mirrors how believers, as God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), must continually be renewed and repaired by repentance and obedience.
There are different types of giving — tithes, gifts, and alms. The tithe is 10% given to the church. It is mandatory and given in public (subject to debate within Christendom). “Gifts” are given to the church above and beyond the tithe. Giving “gifts” is a private matter, done in secret as are alms which are gifts to the poor and needy, again, above and beyond the tithe. The average church giver today gives less than 2% of their income. This is wrong. Many suggest that the tithe is a part of the Old Law which is no longer required. However, the tithe is not simply part of the Old Law. Abraham gave a tithe before the Law (Gen 14:20), and Jesus endorsed the tithe (Luke 11:42 — “These you ought to have done”). The tithe is a steady, reliable source of income for the church to use to do its work. Today, our churches are weak in part because God’s people don’t tithe. Give your tithe as a public commitment and display of worship, and give your gifts and alms in secret. God loves the cheerful giver.
2 Kings 12:6-7 — But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had made no repairs on the house of the LORD. Therefore King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the house?”
Twenty-three years passed, nearly half Jehoash’s reign, and nothing was done. Good intentions unacted upon become neglect. Even righteous causes can falter without accountability. Jehoash had to confront spiritual leaders about their delay, teaching us that even godly people sometimes require correction and re-alignment. Faith must be translated into faithful action. As James 2:17 reminds us, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
Often, people make a profession without a plan for performance – confession without commitment. With good intentions and good ideas must come a specific plan for execution. As they say, “The devil is in the details.” Leaders must set goals and objectives and ensure people actually get things done. Hope is not a method. God calls us to work efficiently and effectively to turn vision into reality, whether it be in building a building or building your character. And any good plan accounts for the reality of human nature. People act like people – don’t be surprised – plan for it.
2 Kings 12:8-9 — Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it beside the altar… and whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest came up and they bagged and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD.
Transparency and accountability were built into this new system (accounting for human nature as mentioned above). Jehoiada understood that stewardship of God’s resources must be handled with integrity. There was no secrecy, multiple witnesses counted and managed the funds. God’s work must always be done God’s way: honestly, wisely, and transparently. As Paul wrote, “We aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man” (2 Corinthians 8:21). Accountability in handling spiritual and material resources protects both God’s name and His servants.
2 Kings 12:10-12 — Then they gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders… and to the masons and the stonecutters… to repair the house of the LORD.
The funds were placed directly into the hands of those doing the work — no waste, no bureaucracy, no self-enrichment. The king’s command turned generosity into visible restoration. This practical wisdom mirrors how spiritual growth works: the Word of God (“the treasure”) must be placed into obedient hands that apply it. Faith becomes effective when truth is practiced. The priests distributed the provision to those equipped to labor; likewise, in the body of Christ, each part must function where gifted (Romans 12:4–8).
2 Kings 12:13-14 — But there were not made for the house of the LORD basins of silver, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, or any vessels of gold or of silver, from the money that was brought into the house of the LORD; for that was given to the workmen who were repairing the house of the LORD with it.
Here we see wise prioritization. Ornamentation could wait; restoration could not. Jehoash’s focus was not on appearances but on substance. God desires inner integrity over outward display (1 Samuel 16:7). The lesson is timeless: don’t polish the temple when its walls are crumbling. Invest first in strengthening what sustains life and worship, then beautify later.
Likewise, as God’s temple, we must focus on restoration of our hearts, not merely appearances. Thinking in terms of home repair helps sharpen the contrast. If you merely remodel a house, you patch a wall, repaint, install new cabinets, lay a fresh carpet or vinyl, upgrade the lighting fixtures — you make it look new, more attractive, more comfortable. It’s comparatively fast, cheaper, and the visible results are immediate – people will love it. But remodeling doesn’t touch the foundation, the framing beneath the surfaces, the plumbing, or the load‐bearing supports. Behind the new paint and flooring, decay, rot, termites, structural weakness may persist, unseen, waiting to collapse when stress comes.
By contrast, renovation or restoration is a grittier, longer process. You rip out walls, expose the studs, replace joists, repair the foundation, re-plumb, rewire, shore up the beams, and rebuild from the inside out. It is messy, expensive, slow, often disruptive – people may not appreciate you doing the work near their abode. But the result is a home that lasts under storms, a home where the bones are sound, where future stress is borne not by hidden weaknesses but by solid structure.
God doesn’t want us merely to remodel our hearts so we look respectable or feel comfortable; He desires that we be renovated and restored from the inside out. The temple of God, you and I, must not simply wear a fresh coat of behavior, but undergo deep structural reformation so that when life’s storms hit, our hearts stand firm. As Paul Tripp has observed, God doesn’t simply do home improvement; He calls for restoration. We must resist the impulse to “fix up” our outward actions while neglecting the hidden corruption of the heart.
Consider the analogy of Jesus’ parable: the wise man builds his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24–27). It is not enough to have painted walls and a pretty facade; when the floods and winds come, only a house built on a firm foundation endures. In the same way, unless God is renewing your root, your motivations, your desires, your identity in Christ, the things unseen, outward change can collapse under pressure. The apostle Paul calls us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), not merely reformed superficially.
Thus, let your aim not be to assemble a “better you” through rules, rituals, or self-imposed disciplines alone, but to yield to the master Builder who restores the heart. Let Him tear down, expose, rebuild, and restore, all the way to the foundation, so that your life is more than remodeled, but deeply transformed. Then what remains will not be perfect by our standards, but solid, resilient, and rooted, reflecting Christ Himself, capable of weathering every storm.
Take care of what matters most first. Do the hard thing first.
– Proverbs 24:27 — Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.
2 Kings 12:15 – And they did not ask for an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to pay out to the workmen, for they dealt honestly.
Trust was earned by proven integrity. The workers’ faithfulness eliminated the need for suspicion. In God’s kingdom, honesty itself is a form of worship. Integrity is its own accountability system — it glorifies God and inspires confidence in His work. “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3).
2 Kings 12:16 – The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD; it belonged to the priests.
This verse preserves the boundaries of sacred provision. The offerings designated for priestly sustenance were not repurposed for construction. God’s order maintains balance between ministry and maintenance. Even in doing God’s work, it is possible to misallocate what He has assigned for another purpose. Obedience requires both generosity and discernment.
2 Kings 12:17-18 — At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem, Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.
Jehoash, once a reformer, compromised under pressure. Instead of seeking God’s deliverance, he stripped the temple of its treasures to buy off his enemy. This act reveals how fear can make even faithful people barter away what was meant for worship. What began as zeal ended as appeasement. The same Jehoash who once repaired God’s house now robbed it. Fear of man always leads to spiritual poverty (Proverbs 29:25). When threatened, the faithful turn to prayer, not payoffs (2 Kings 19:14-19).
2 Kings 12:19-21 — Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? His servants arose and made a conspiracy and struck down Joash in the house of Millo…. For Jozacar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer struck him down, and he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
Jehoash’s end is tragic. The boy who was hidden by faith and crowned in covenant died by conspiracy and compromise. According to 2 Chronicles 24:20–22, his downfall began when he rejected the prophetic warning of Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, and killed him in the temple courtyard. He turned from being led by God’s Word to silencing it. When we stop listening to truth, we start sowing destruction. Jehoash’s story teaches that a good beginning is no guarantee of a faithful end; perseverance is the measure of true faith. “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 11 October 2025: Build and guard the temple of your heart. Like Jehoash, begin with zeal for God’s house, but unlike Jehoash, finish stronger than you started. Repair what sin has damaged through obedience, prayer, and repentance. Keep your motives pure, your worship undiluted, and your faith rooted directly in Christ rather than dependent on human approval. Don’t merely remodel your life – renovate and restore your character. Protect what God entrusts to you with integrity and courage, and never trade spiritual treasure for worldly peace. The temple must remain sacred; your heart must remain His.
Pray: “Lord God, search me and show me where the high places still remain in my heart. Help me to renovate and restore the temple of my life where neglect has caused decay. Make me a faithful steward of all You’ve given, my time, my resources, and my influence, so that everything honors You. Protect me from fear and compromise when threats arise, and let me never barter away Your truth for temporary relief. Teach me to finish well, to keep building faithfully, and to hold fast to Your covenant promises until the end. Strengthen my integrity, renew my devotion, and make my heart a temple of praise that cannot be bought or broken. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
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