My reflection comes from the Second Book of Kings. In that Book, we have heard about King Ahab and his pagan wife Jezebel—who instigated the murder of many people. Today's First Reading continues with King Ahab and Jezebel dead and their daughter Athalia (who was evil and a pagan like her mother Jezebel) at the center of things.
Athalia tried to seize and maintain power in the Kingdom by killing every member of the royal family of Israel. However, she missed one member of the royal family — Joash, the son of Ahaziah who was taken and hidden in the Temple for protection. Joash was later anointed as the legitimate King in the line of David.
Not Going According to Plan
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt God’s plan was going or had gone off-course and it was failing? Have you seen or been in a situation where a marriage, an institution, a program, or a project that you clearly felt was founded on God seemed to be going south with no hope of recovery in any way? That is seemed the situation in Israel. The Israelites, who felt that God founded their kingdom through their ancestor David, saw it being taken over and influenced by the pagan and evil Queen Jezebel and later her daughter Athaliah. The two pagan women, for a while, seemed to have won the battle by ordering the murder of different people, but in the end, victory was not on their side. Somehow, God had a way of redirecting history to His goals and purposes, and the kingdom was kept in the line of David.
Trusting Divine Providence
There is a lesson here for us that somehow and in some way — Divine Providence will always triumph. God’s plans may appear for a while to have gone off course or down south, but somehow God will in the end triumph. God’s plans may appear to have been frustrated in a bad way but in the end they will emerge triumphant. The encouragement we have today is that if we are rooted in God, if our plans are centered on God, no matter what storms or earthquakes will come, God will stay faithful to His promises to us. The boat will shake and our house will quake but they will not be destroyed. Divine Providence will take charge and redirect everything in the right way what we entrusted to God.
Today, we can ask ourselves – Do we believe that God’s Providence is at work in our lives, our homes, our workplaces, and our country even when matters seem so dark? May we ask the Lord to increase our faith and trust in Him, especially in those challenging circumstances when we don’t feel His power and presence at all.
May the Lord increase our hope in Him that tomorrow, the sun will rise, and it will shine brightly. Amen.
- Today’s Readings
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