"Choosing Your Battles"

Scripture Passage

Zephaniah 2:8-3:20; 2 Chronicles 35:20-27; 2 Kings 23:29-30; Jeremiah 47-48:47

Scripture Focus

But Josiah refused to listen to Neco, to whom God had indeed spoken…
(2 Chronicles 35:22 NLT)

Observation

Just two days ago I wrote about Josiah and the commendation he received in 2 Kings 23:25…

Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. (2 Kings 23:25 NLT)

But today’s passage from 2 Chronicles reveals a significant error on Josiah’s part—one that cost him his life!

King Neco of Egypt is headed toward Judah with his army—but not for the purpose of attacking Judah; he’s got business with others at Carchemish. Still, this advance had to be unnerving for Josiah, so “Josiah and his army marched out to fight him” (2 Chron 35:20 NLT). He is warned against doing so by King Neco himself—“I have no quarrel with you today! I am on my way to fight another nation, and God has told me to hurry!” (2 Chron 35:21)—but Josiah refuses to hear anything Neco has to say. And the Bible makes this remarkable statement:

But Josiah refused to listen to Neco, to whom God had indeed spoken…
(2 Chronicles 35:22 NLT)

The Bible endorses the declaration of the pagan king Neco and recognizes that Josiah, Judah’s great reformer king, was wrong!

Nothing about this encounter suggests that King Neco was a godly leader in any way. Nothing about this encounter indicts Josiah as anything less than a godly leader. But it does suggest that Josiah jumped the gun a bit and that his unwillingness to reconsider his military decision in light of Neco’s warnings (probably because Neco *was* a heathen king) cost him everything.

My take is that every battle doesn’t have to be fought today. My take is that “timing is the Lord’s business” (Acts 1:7 MSG).  My take is that I can’t afford to make knee-jerk decisions—even if they seem the most obvious decisions in the world. My task is not even to choose my battles carefully—but, rather, to make sure I’m letting the Lord choose my battles for me!

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