Beware of Compromise

Be not unequally yoked thought with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? —2 Corinthians 6:14

Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? —2 Chronicles 19:2

Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works. —2 Chronicles 20:37

Jehoshaphat was a good king, but he will always be associated with compromise. Three times he compromised by making alliances with the wicked—First with Ahab (2 Chron. 19:2), later with Ahab’s son, Ahaziah (2 Chron. 20:37), and later with Jehoram (cf. 2 Kings 3:1-14). His compromises had far reaching effects on Judah.

ABC News recently ran a report about a fungus beneath the soil of the Malheur National Forest in Oregon that has been gradually weaving its way through the roots of the trees for centuries.  It has grown to be the largest living organism ever found. The Armillaria ostoyae (honey mushroom) started from a single spore too small to seen with the naked eye. It has been spreading its black shoestring filaments through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows. It now covers 2,200 acres.

Jehoshaphat’s compromise was like that. An alliance with a wicked king… then another king, and later by giving his son in marriage to a wicked woman, Athaliah, who turned Jerusalem into a butcher shop nearly wiping out the Messiah’s seed (2 Chron. 22:9-11).  All because Jehoshaphat compromised and helped the ungodly.

Beware of compromise! It’s starts out small and spreads until your entire testimony is rendered ineffective.  “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (2 Cor. 6:17).