How Are You Building?

One day King Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as a sacred offering to the Lord’s Temple, whether it is a regular assessment, a payment of vows, or a voluntary gift. Let the priests take some of that money to pay for whatever repairs are needed at the Temple.” But by the twenty-third year of Joash’s reign, the priests still had not repaired the Temple. So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Don’t use any more money for your own needs. From now on, it must all be spent on Temple repairs.” So the priests agreed not to accept any more money from the people, and they also agreed to let others take responsibility for repairing the Temple.

Then Jehoiada the priest bored a hole in the lid of a large chest and set it on the right-hand side of the altar at the entrance of the Temple of the Lord. The priests guarding the entrance put all of the people’s contributions into the chest. Whenever the chest became full, the court secretary and the high priest counted the money that had been brought to the Lord’s Temple and put it into bags.

So they gave the money to the construction supervisors, who used it to pay the people working on the Lord’s Temple—the carpenters, the builders, the masons, and the stonecutters. They also used the money to buy the timber and the finished stone needed for repairing the Lord’s Temple, and they paid any other expenses related to the Temple’s restoration.

2 Kings 12:4-12 NLT

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This is a very interesting passage in the Old Testament that I can almost guarantee you haven’t read or if you have, just quickly glanced through. It is about a king, following in the line of David, managing the affairs of Jerusalem at that time. At this point in Israel’s history, Israel and Judah split into two kingdoms and this is taking place in the northern kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem. King Joash realized that the Temple, the current structure that existed to host the presence of God, was under disrepair. He instructed the priests to use some of the money they received, ie, their budget, for the repairs. But get this, years later, King Joash realized that his plan wasn’t working out and that the Temple was still under disrepair. Funds were being given to the priests, but the job wasn’t getting done.

So the priest Jehoiada created a plan where they would collect a special offering from the people for the repairs. The Bible says the people were thrilled about this new protocol and gave willing. From there, the two top leaders in the Temple would collect and count the money given. Then, they went and hired other construction workers to make the repairs using the money collected. Jehoiada’s plan was that instead of having priests make repairs like they initially tried doing for years, they ended up realizing that finding experts to specially do that job was a lot smarter, now with their own directed funds to pay for the work.

I point out this story in the Bible because I believe that we can learn a lot from Jehoiada’s solution. Where are there areas in our own lives that what we originally tried doing a certain way but it is simply just not working. Things we’ve been working on for so long that are still not getting accomplished. I would encourage you to think how Jehoiada did—he recognized where there was a weakness and compensated with a solution. Jehoiada saw that the priests were not able to repair the Temple alongside their other responsibilities and that the money that was supposed to be used wasn’t because it wasn’t purposely set aside for the repairs. Jehoiada separated responsibilities and set aside funds in order to accomplish the Temple repairs. Maybe there is something you need to separate, or set aside in order to accomplish it. Jehoaida also brought in experts at their craft, he recognized what the priests were able to do and not able to do. Maybe you are trying to lead people and you need to recognize what your people can do and what they can’t do. By separating roles and bringing in experts, more gets accomplished and goals are achieved.

So friend, next time when you are encountering a lag of something being done or built in your life, I’d encourage you to think like Jehoaida to accomplish more and achieve more!