2 Chronicles 17:7-9
“Then in the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them the priestsElishama and Jehoram. They taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them; and they went throughout the cities of Judah and taught among the people.”
This is amazing. The king feared God and had a strong relationship with Him. Verse four says of him, “but sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did.”
What we can take away from this is that one’s values rub off on those around. If the values are good, then they rub off. Unfortunately bad values are also transmitted. Here are two verses that exemplify this; I Corinthians 15:33 says, ‘Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”’ Thank there is proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Lord, help us to associate with those that have good values.
The king went further with this. He sent teachers and priests to go throughout the land to teach them the Law of God. This is several levels up. This takes a real leader. One mark of a leader is influence. This tends to be more of what was said earlier. People are motivated to act by those that have influence. A rough quote goes something like this, “Things are caught, not taught.” That’s very important.
This kings goes further. He has a plan to educate the people. He sends out teachers to teach the law. This reminds me of the Billy Graham campaigns. I recall one of his rallies came to town. There was an advance team that arrived far ahead of the rally; maybe a year. They would enlist local churches. There would be a leader from each church. They would go back to the churches and enlist other helpers. There were prayer teams, counselors, marketing teams and so on. They would meet for months getting ready for the crusade. As it approached there were all sorts of deadlines and actions. It was amazing. They were gifted people who knew what to do.
All of us believers are to be witnesses. This means we are to walk with God in obedience. Tough times will come and we depend on Him. He tells us to rejoice in all circumstances. He gives us joy. Much of this is done quietly. Others still see it. God opens their eyes to observe. He will strike a chord in their hearts to make it resonate. Other times we are to speak of it. Someone may ask what we did over the weekend. Include church. Someone may ask what going on. We can include something we are learning in our faith. We are all to do this.
The teaching plan that the king employed was a step beyond. We may have a gift that God might tap into which we would employ.
Thank You, Lord, for this example. If You would like us to do something extra give us insight. Help us to be witnesses. Thank You.