2 Kings 11:1-8: in context

When Athaliah sees that her son the king is dead, she seizes the throne by murdering all the royal heirs, the whole line of David's descendants in Judah. It is an attempt to wipe out the royal line entirely. But one infant escapes: Jehosheba takes the baby Joash from among the doomed princes and hides him, with his nurse, in the temple. For six years, while Athaliah reigns, the rightful heir is kept safe in hiding, until the day he is brought out and made king. The line of David, and the promise attached to it, was preserved through one hidden child.

This is a moment when God's purposes seemed to hang by a single thread. God had promised David that his line would endure, that his throne would be established; and now Athaliah's slaughter threatened to destroy that line entirely. Had she succeeded, the promise would have failed. But one child escaped her sword, hidden away and preserved, and through that one child the line of David continued. The murderous scheme did not prevail; the promise was preserved, though it hung by the thread of a single hidden infant. God's purpose survived, protected through the courage of a woman who hid the child. There is encouragement here about the preservation of God's purposes. There are times when what God has promised seems on the verge of being destroyed, when his purposes appear to hang by the slenderest thread, when a single scheme or disaster seems about to undo them. Athaliah's slaughter was such a moment. And yet God preserved his promise, through one hidden child, against the whole force arrayed to destroy it. The counsel of the LORD, the psalmist says, stands firm forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. No scheme, however murderous, can finally thwart what God has purposed; he preserves his promise even when it hangs by a thread. And this particular preservation was part of a larger purpose, for the line of David preserved through Joash would lead at last to Christ, the promised son of David. The slaughter that threatened the line, like Herod's later slaughter that Jesus escaped, could not undo God's promise; the child was preserved, and through him the purpose advanced. This steadies us when God's purposes seem imperiled. When it looks as though what God has promised is about to be destroyed, we may remember Joash, hidden and preserved when the whole royal line was slaughtered, and trust that God preserves his purposes even when they hang by a thread. His counsel stands; no scheme can finally thwart it; and the promise that seemed on the verge of destruction was preserved through one hidden child, as God preserves his purposes still, against all that would destroy them.

When God's purposes seem on the verge of being destroyed, hanging by the slenderest thread, do I fear that some scheme or disaster will finally undo what he has promised, or can the infant Joash, hidden and preserved when Athaliah slaughtered the whole royal line, assure me that God preserves his purposes even when they hang by a thread, so that no scheme can finally thwart what he has purposed, and his counsel stands firm forever?