2 Kings 22:1-7: a reflection

1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left. 3In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the LORD’s house, saying, 4“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into the LORD’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. 5Let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the LORD’s house; and let them give it to the workers who are in the LORD’s house, to repair the damage to the house, 6to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house. 7However, no accounting shall be asked of them for the money delivered into their hand, for they deal faithfully.”

In the account of young King Josiah repairing the temple, one small line stands out about the workmen who handled the money for the project: no accounting was required of them, because they dealt faithfully. The funds were simply put into their hands and trusted to them, no audit, no oversight, because their integrity was already established. They were known to be honest.

Notice what a quiet honor that is. In a world where money usually requires careful watching, these workers had earned a trust so solid that watching was unnecessary. Their faithfulness in handling what was not theirs had become a settled fact about them, so much so that it could be written down: no accounting was required. Their character did the accounting for them.

That is a kind of reputation worth wanting. Not the applause of impressive achievements, but the quiet trust that comes from being reliably honest, the person others do not feel they need to check up on, because they deal faithfully. It is built slowly, in how you handle small things, money, promises, responsibilities, when no one is auditing. Aim to be that kind of person: trustworthy enough that, in the things entrusted to you, no accounting is required, because you deal faithfully.

Lord, make me trustworthy in the things entrusted to me, faithful with money and promises and responsibilities even when no one is watching. Let my integrity be so settled that others need not check up on me, and let me deal faithfully in all things.