Check Your Alliances

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah and son of Asa, was one of the godliest kings in the history of Israel as a nation, and is rightly considered to be a great hero of faith.  His reign of 25 years is marked with God’s blessings of peace, prosperity, protection, divine interventions and victory over enemies.  He was a tender hearted man whose spirit longed for God’s guidance in private and public life.  However, he had one weakness.  The weakness of Jehoshaphat was his tendency of forging alliances with wicked men whose hearts were against God. 

Ahab was the most wicked king of Israel and his two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, followed in his footsteps.  The wickedness of the house of Ahab was well known throughout Judah and Israel; two of the greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha, confronted this evil household.  But Jehoshaphat, with full knowledge of the wickedness of the house of Ahab, forged a marriage alliance with them and later engaged in allied warfare with common enemies. 

The first time Jehoshaphat aligned with Ahab, he was nearly killed.  Later when he aligned with the sons of Ahab, nothing he planned ever succeeded; one time he returned from the battle with disgust and second time lost all the investment he made into building a maritime fleet of ships.  The entire fleet was destroyed without ever making a single sail. 

The lessons for us to learn from a godly person like Jehoshaphat is that we must not make little of the sins of our friends whose hearts are bent on manipulating God’s grace into material gains.  I am witnessing some of my godly friends standing shoulder to shoulder with pastors, missionaries, and namesake Christians who have made a name for themselves with immorality, financial corruption and outright lies and deceptions in missions.  Instead of standing on the truth and demanding holiness and integrity of character, these godly men and women are being coerced into accepting such ungodly people into their fellowship either for material gain or for the temptation of being put into the place of position in their corrupt organizations.  Not that we should not reach out to them but to do so without ever pointing out their wickedness is to do what Jehoshaphat did with Ahab and nearly paid the price.  The church of Jesus Christ is in need of a Micaiah (1K. 22:14) and an Elisha (2K. 3:14) who stood up to Ahab and Jehoram in front of Jehoshaphat and rebuked them of their wickedness, and a Jehu (2Chr. 19:2) who stood up to Jehoshaphat in declaring God’s displeasure for his alliance with Ahab and Jehoram.  Ahab and his household perished in their wickedness but the Lord was gracious to Jehoshaphat and relented his wrath because Jehoshaphat realized his mistakes and remained faithful to the Lord his God for the rest of his days. 

Be friend of all but don’t make light of the wickedness of your friends least you be an equal partner in their wickedness.