2 Kings 13-16
Close, but Not Quite There

There is a line in 2 Kings 15 about King Jotham that is repeated regarding several kings of Judah: "In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord" (15:32-35).

What it was that held Jotham back from removing the high places of false worship we may never know. Perhaps he thought such an action would shake things up too much, upset the people, destabilizing his hold on the kingdom. Perhaps family members or his wife still clung to these places of worship and dissuaded him from taking action against them. Perhaps they were just such a part of the culture of the day he never even thought about removing them. Whatever the reason, we find a king who wanted to obey God, doing as we considered last time "all the right things," but stopping short of the full commitment needed to truly be a good, godly king. "Let's not be too hard on the guy. He did some good." While that is true, we must ask ourselves, is "good" good enough? Are we to settle for just good? Or, is our God worth more than "good?"

King Hezekiah, one of Jotham's descendants, apparently thought so. Not only did he do what was right in God's eyes, he went a step farther and actually removed the high places. "Close" was not good enough for him—he thought God deserved more.

It is tempting to become satisfied with "close" in our service to God. Do a good job in obeying God—maybe more than most. "That's gotta count for something, right? After all, we can't be perfect. If we are always thinking of how much more we could do, and we can never do it all, then how can we find peace?" That is a difficult dilemma, but the answer is to do a heart examination on ourselves. Do we really want to serve the Lord? Would we really put Him first in our lives? Would we really do anything we need to do to be a better servant of His? Are you really willing to serve the Lord our God with "all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5)? Or, are there some things we won't do? Are there times when being truly devoted really isn't practical or socially acceptable? Those Christians who are Hezekiahs will constantly evaluate whether their efforts at serving God are really responsive to God's marvelous grace or the efforts of a less than devoted heart to get close… but just not too close.