FINISHING WELL

The Bible is full of examples of people who began well, but ended badly. 

I was surprised, when I first studied the history of Israel and its kings, how few were godly in the first place, (only 4 in the southern kingdom of Judah, and none in the northern kingdom of Israel), and how many of these same godly men failed in their faithfulness to God at their life’s end.

There was King David, most renown of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel, whom God called a man after His own heart.  At the height of his reign as king, David sinned by taking another man’s wife and then orchestrating his death in battle to cover up David’s adultery.  David repented of his sin, but reaped the consequences of it in his own family for years to come.

After the Kingdom of Israel divided, Asa reigned as king over Judah for 41 years.  The Bible says this of him at the start of his reign (2 Chronicles 14):

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.  He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones (symbols of the peoples’ idolatry).  He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers and to obey His laws and commands.

But then, after Asa had been king for thirty-six years, he made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, the idolatrous king of Aram, sweetened with silver and gold items which he took from the treasury of the Lord’s temple.  Hanani, a seer living in Judah at that time, spoke God’s Word to Asa (2 Chronicles 16):

Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand (they were after all, Judah’s enemy).

. . For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.  You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.  Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison.  At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

Later, when Asa was stricken with a disease in his feet, the Bible records:

Even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord.

Asa’s son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king of Judah.  During his reign there was always the threat of war with the idolatrous northern kingdom of Israel, so he set to work fortifying the cities of Judah.  2 Chronicles 17 says of him:

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father (ancestor) David had followed.  He sought the God of his Fathers and followed His commands.  His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed (the idols) from Judah.

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials out to teach throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of God; they went around all the towns, teaching the people. 

Then we get to chapter 18 of 2 Chronicles.  Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor by this time, but made a foolish alliance through marriage with the northern kingdom’s most notorious evil king, Ahab.  They went to war together and Jehoshaphat would have lost his life had not the Lord protected him.

When Jehoshaphat returned from battle he was met by Jehu the seer, who denounced him for aligning with Ahab and pronounced these words (2 Chronicles 19:2):

Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?  Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.

Chapter 19 and 20 of 2 Chronicles stand as a wonderful testimony of Jehoshaphat’s faith in the Lord, but he did not learn from his foolish alliance with Ahab and near the end of his life, made another:

Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, who was guilty of wickedness.  Eliezer prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.’  The ships were wrecked and not able to set sail to trade.

When I read these accounts of people who began well and then ended not so well, I have two reactions – sadness and comfort.  Sadness because they began so WELL!  They were committed to the Lord and His ways and led their people in His ways as well.  What happened to them? 

Did they forget that it was the Lord who had been blessing them with His favor and begin to believe their own press, “I’m successful because I’m smart, powerful, strong.  Everyone says so.”?

Did fear replace faith, causing them to make foolish and ungodly alliances?

Were they resting on their laurels so that they weren’t prepared when temptation came calling?

Whatever it was, it’s not surprising the Bible warns us about pride and the necessity to stand fast in faith.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

In Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 11 and 13, the Apostle Paul instructs us about the Armor of God, that which protects us against the wiles of Satan to destroy us:

Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.

The other reaction I have to the Bible’s record of these men is comfort.  For one thing, I am really not very different from them.  I too have loved the Lord and followed in His ways, and I too have said things, and done things, and THOUGHT things, that were equally foolish and sinful as theirs.  With those things came unpleasant consequences as well as the great grace of God.

Here’s what stands out to me in the accounts of kings Asa and Jehoshaphat:

2 Chronicles 15:17

Although he did not remove the high places (of idolatrous worship) from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.

2 Chronicles 20:31

So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah for 25 years.  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.

How thankful I am that when the Lord looks at my life, He applies His grace.  Because I belong to Him, God forgives me, and bases His evaluation of me on the sacrifice of His Son by which righteousness has been credited to my account.  Amazing grace! 

So, why this blog at this time?  I’ve been thinking a lot about Billy Graham who died last week after a long and blessed “career” as an evangelist of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What impressed me most about this wonderful man of God is that he not only began well, he finished well.  Billy Graham was a man saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Like those kings, and like me, he probably had his failings too.  However, when I look at the way he lived these last days, I see his faithfulness – to the call of God upon him when He saved him, and to the call of God upon him when he became an evangelist – and an evangelist he was until God called him home.

I don’t know about you, but that’s how I want to live my life – right up to the end of my earthly life – faithful to the God who saved me by His grace.

I had taken an online Bible class through Dallas Theological Seminary and so began to receive their magazine.  In this month’s issue there was an article about the life and homegoing of Dr. Donald K. Campbell who had served as the seminary’s president.

In the article was the following poem by Robertson McQuilkin called, Let Me Get Home Before Dark.  It made me think of those kings of Judah, and of Billy Graham, and it echoes the thoughts of my heart as I live through these winter years of my life. 

Let Me Get Home Before Dark

It’s sundown, Lord.

The shadows of my life stretch back

into the dimness of the years long spent.

I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays himself at last,

Thrusting me forever into life;

Life with YOU, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear.

I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon – or do I

mean, too late?

That I should end before I finish or

finish, but not well.

That I should stain Your honor, shame Your name, grieve Your loving heart.

Few, they tell me, finish well. . .

Lord, let me get home before dark.