one solitary life

The Word for today:
2 Chronicles 22:10-23:21

mark this: 2 Chronicles 22:11 --
But Jehosheba took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. She hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him.

Seeing the title of this article, you might be expecting a reprint of the famous "One Solitary Life." Tell you what--I'll reprint it at the end so you won't leave disappointed.

But before we read about that solitary life, let's look at a couple of relatively unknown figures from 2 Chronicles.

We might think that the lives of Joash and Jehosheba (1) are unimportant. I mean, they never became famous. But think again--for if there were no Joash or no Jehosheba, the one solitary life celebrated in the article below would have never come to be.

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Wicked Athaliah was intent upon extinguishing David's royal line. She nearly did annihilate the lineage, but fell just one baby short:
Now when Athaliah the mother of King Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah. But Jehosheba, the daughter of the king, took Joash and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death. And he remained hidden in the house of God for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land. (2 Chronicles 22:10-12)

Had Athaliah's murderous plot succeeded, the family line of God's Messiah would have been severed.

So God's entire plan to redeem mankind rested at this point on the intervention of one brave woman, Jehosheba, who hid little Joash from Athaliah.

A certain King Herod centuries later slaughtered all the infant boys in his territory in an attempt to kill that one little baby who was the promised King in David's line. Herod, too, fell one baby short:
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)

So you can never tell what part of God's plan has been placed in your hands. Jehosheba's rescue of a solitary infant, like our own service in Christ's Kingdom, might have seemed insignificant at the time, but only God is able to see the big picture. Any act of faithful service can have consequences beyond measure:
Therefore, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  (1 Corinthians 15:58)

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One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became a wandering preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life.

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(1) Jehosheba is alternatively spelled 'Jehoshabeath'