Today’s Scripture Reading (November
15, 2016): 2 Kings 12
Political Columnist Charles Krauthammer once commented
that “whenever you're faced
with an explanation of what's going on in Washington, the choice between
incompetence and conspiracy, always choose incompetence.” I think Krauthammer
is probably right. Incompetence, not a conspiracy, is usually at fault. But the
reality is that we usually deep down feel that it is a conspiracy that has defeated us. And it is not just in the arena of
politics that this is true. In almost every area of our lives, it is incompetence and
not a conspiracy against which we are
struggling. We can seldom be convinced that the world is not conspiring
against us.
King Joash becomes concerned as time
passes, and the Temple is not repaired. Even though Jehoiada seems to
have been the force behind the reconstruction
of the temple, it is becoming quite evident that he is unable to get the job
done. It would be easy to assume that there is some kind of a conspiracy going on. Maybe the repair of the Temple was
nothing more than a ruse to raise more money for the priests. Is it possible
that the priests couldn’t be trusted to with the money that was being raised?
(Incidentally, verse 15 would seem to argue against that possibility - They did not require an accounting from those to whom they
gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.)
It is easy to suggest a conspiracy, but it is more likely that the
culprit was incompetence. While the priests were motivated to repair the
temple, they just didn’t have the expertise to complete the task correctly. (Trust me, no one wants to see me
doing repairs around the church – it is just not going to end well.)
So the decision is made to leave the repairs to those who are gifted to
do them – even if they were not priests. This involvement
of all the people was the way that the original tabernacle was built. God, through Moses, assigned the
work on the tabernacle to those who were
equipped to do the job. Putting those
with capabilities to do the job at the task of completing the job was the path
to getting the job done. It is also the way to overcome incompetence and get
the task done.
It still is. Every person in the church is gifted to do something. And
the church does not just depend on its pastors and leaders. It depends on each
of its members being willing to give of their gifts and talents for the church.
For the Church of Jesus Christ to be successful, it will take all of us doing
what we do best – and recognizing that that is really
why God gifted us this way in the first place.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joel 1
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