Good Intentions

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

GOOD INTENTIONS

1 Kings 22:41-53

41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 In everything he walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. The high places, however, were not removed, and the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. 44 Jehoshaphat was also at peace with the king of Israel. 45 As for the other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, the things he achieved and his military exploits, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 46 He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa. 47 There was then no king in Edom; a deputy ruled. 48 Now Jehoshaphat built a fleet of trading ships to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail — they were wrecked at Ezion Geber. 49 At that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my men sail with your men," but Jehoshaphat refused. 50 Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father. And Jehoram his son succeeded him. 51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 52 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 53 He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.

NIV

Two kings, two ways of life, one did right in the eyes of the LORD, one did evil in the eyes of the LORD. Interestingly, Jehoshaphat who did right in the eyes of the LORD stopped or rid the land of male shrine prostitutes but did not remove the high places. Was he not completely sold out to the ways of the LORD? Why did he allow those high places to stay? The people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. The question is who were they offering sacrifices to? We cannot be sure if these high places were for the worship of Baal or for the LORD.  The same event recorded in Chronicles indicates he did remove them, or at least it was his desire to do so, but he failed. It is not uncommon for anyone who lives to please the Lord to desire to do what is right in His eyes, but also to fail on occasion. However, that is not to say that good intentions are enough. One old English proverb of exact original is unknown, states the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The other king, Ahaziah son of Ahab did not even try to live in a manner to please the LORD, instead he did evil in the sight of the LORD and caused Israel to sin. Ahaziah worshipped Baal, a false god who had no eyes to see his evil, no ears to hear his evil and no mouth to speak against his evil. However, he did provoke the LORD God Almighty who has eyes to see, hears to hear and a mouth to speak. It is always a bad choice to choose the wrong side to live on. Why serve something that is deaf, mute and blind when we have the Lord? We wonder if we believers could get distracted by material things, that are deaf,  mute and blind, and become too invested in them, or place too much value on them, that we are almost close to serving them, or worshipping them. It is not that we forsake our Lord, but is it possible we are trying to serve two masters? Jehoshaphat tried to live doing right in the eyes of the LORD, but he left those high places. If we love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, then we cannot have any high places, or other things that we offer sacrifices to. Because we are supposed to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, then the question is whether we offer ourselves to other things, considering them too important, becoming too invested in something other then our Lord. We wonder if even when we do good things for others, are we looking for their praise or the praise of our Lord? Sometimes the line can get blurred, but let us consider what is doing good in the eyes of the Lord, not just good intentions.