Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors

2 Chronicles 19:1-7

When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, 2 Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you. 3 There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God.”
4 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 5 He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. 6 He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. 7 Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

Today’s title is “Increase Your Goodness”

We want to be right before God perfectly if it is at all possible. But it is not possible as we all know. No one is perfect before God. It is indeed true as Job’s friend Bildad said, “If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm! (Job 25: 5)”. So what do we do? Do we give up on trying to be good? Not at all! We should humbly acknowledge that we cannot measure up to the perfect standard of God no matter how hard we try. Only the righteous Son of God can make us right with God. Then what? We get a glimpse of the answer for that in today’s passage. Jehoshaphat king of Judah was a godly king. He was one of the best kings in the history of Israel by any standard. But he wasn’t perfect. He had a critical mistake before God. He aligned himself with Ahab the evil king of the northern kingdom. Jehu the seer pointed it out clearly. “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is on you.” Jehoshaphat became speechless. He already knew his own sin. He almost lost his own life because of the sin. “What else God wanted me to do to pay for the sin?”, he might have murmured himself. Then God said through the prophet. “There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God.” Surely God does not have narrow tunnel vision. He was looking at the brighter side of Jehoshaphat too. I believe what God told Jehoshaphat to do was “So keep doing and even more what is good while stop doing what was bad.” At least that was how Jehoshaphat understood God’s message. So he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. How good are you? Or how bad are you? Like Jehoshaphat, we all have some good and some bad. Our goodness can never save us. Our badness can never destroy us. It is only by God’s grace that we are saved. But we are told to keep doing what is good in us and even more, while stop and decrease what is bad in us. Are you following the path of godliness?