ESOCS Devotional 12 October 2025 – Serving God in Complete Honesty
MEMORY VERSE: ‘‘‘They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.’’ 2 Kings 12:15
TEXT: 2 KINGS 12:13-21
However there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. 14 But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it. 15 Moreover they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully. 16 The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. It belonged to the priests.
17 Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; then Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. 18 And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and in the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.
19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 And his servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of the Millo, which goes down to Silla. 21 For Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
The temple had gone out of repair. However, it was not only the teeth of time that made these breaches, the sons of Athaliah had broken up the house of God (2 Chr. 24:7), and, out of enmity to the service of the temple, had damaged the buildings of it, and the priests had not taken care to repair the breaches in time, so that they went worse and worse.
King Joash got to the heart of the problem – the building project was plagued by poor administration and financial mismanagement. Through Jehoiada the priest, he implemented a system where the money would be set aside, saved, and then wisely spent for the repair and refurbishing of the temple.
The temple was out of repair; Jehoash orders the repair of the temple. The king was zealous. God requires those who have power, to use it for the support of religion, the redress of grievances, and repairing of decays. The king employed the priests to manage, as most likely to be hearty in the work. But nothing was done effectually till the twenty-third year of his reign. Another method was therefore taken. When public distributions are made faithfully, public contributions will be made cheerfully. While they were getting all they could for the repair of the temple, they did not break in upon the stated maintenance of the priests. Let not the servants of the temple be starved, under colour of repairing the breaches of it. Those that were intrusted did the business carefully and faithfully. They judiciously used the money for the purpose it was provided.
Resolve to repair what is broken, rather than being content to watch things fall apart. Maybe there is a work, a program, or a ministry at your church that has been neglected, or perhaps your whole church is falling apart and shrinking into obscurity. Don’t be someone who observes the ruin with an attitude of defeat. Be like Joash, who resolved to do something about the problem. Joash’s repairs didn’t happen overnight, but he devoted himself to getting them done, no matter how long it took.
You may not be able to fix everything in your church overnight, but rather than giving up in defeat, put together a plan and shift the mind-set from one of ruin to one of restoration.
CHALLENGES
- Have you neglected aspects of the ministry to decay while you could help restore it?
PRAYER POINT
- Lord, give me the grace to serve you in complete honesty for the glory of your name. Amen.
FURTHER READING: 2 Kings 13:1-11; Galatians 1:1-14; 2:1-10
ESOCS Devotional 12 October 2025
