…They Take a Long Time to Build and a Short time to Destroy

S: (ESV)

 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. 5 And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house 6 (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 7 But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”

2 Kings 22:3-7

O: This was a major construction project, repairing the House of the Lord, authorized by a young king. The House of the Lord had fallen into disrepair following a long and evil reign of kings who had not followed God and had let anything to do with God become disgraced. Josiah decided early in his reign that he was going to fix what had become broken. He orders the money, which had been collected as a tax, to be taken out of the bank, counted and then distributed to the foremen on the construction site, and then were in turn supposed to distribute it to the actual workmen who were instructed to go and buy what they needed to do their jobs.

A: These workmen were given the trust of using this money for its intended purpose, which was to buy supplies to use to rebuild the Lord’s House. This kind of trust doesn’t come easily or quickly. It is quite probable that these workmen were seasoned contractors who had already built reputations for doing good work, for being honest about the costs involved, and being fair in trading with their suppliers. All of that does not come easily or quickly. This is why it is so difficult for new craftsmen to find jobs and make a living…they often have to prove themselves by taking the smaller jobs, for less money and delivering above average expectations on a consistent ongoing basis. Never wavering from their character and continuing to build a trust with their previous customers that can then be translated to new customers.

However, it only takes one misspent cash advance, one use of inferior materials, one evidence of cut corners, be it in material or process, and years of careful planning and documentation can go down the drain, since bad news travels ten times faster than good news.

The same is true in marriage. Newlyweds think they know everything there is to know about their partner, but almost every married couple will tell you that it often takes years to find out the really deep, detailed and hidden stuff. Everyone has secret wishes, dreams and ambitions that they are afraid to reveal too soon, for fear of ridicule or opposition. How many times has one spouse revealed a secret trust to their partner only to find that that confidence has been used in a conversation as a point of humour? And trust can be broken in any number of ways, some as simple as an email, some as dangerous as an affair. The short-term reward will take years to rebuild.

P: Please help us all to remember that the long-term, difficult to build is much more rewarding than the short-term, easy path. Amen.