Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram in Judah
22 Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made [a]Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men who came with the Arabs to the camp had slain all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaziah was [b]twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the [c]granddaughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly. 4 He did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction.
Ahaziah Allies with Jehoram of Israel
5 He also walked according to their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the [d]Arameans [e]wounded [f]Joram. 6 So he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds [g]which they had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. And [h]Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
7 Now the destruction of Ahaziah was from God, in that [i]he went to Joram. For when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
This is sometimes a hard pill to swallow, but Ahaziah going to Joram was part of God’s plan. That means whatever follows was part of God’s plan, and it’s not pretty. Sometimes God has to let really terrible things happen to accomplish his plan. That doesn’t mean the terrible things are the goal, but they do need to be endured for us to reach the goal.
More often than not, the only way we become better people is to go through trials and persevere with God’s strength. We don’t necessarily become stronger in our own right, but we learn better to trust in God’s strength in us. Our humanity is a frail thing in the grand scheme of things, but when we trust God to use us, He will give us what is needed to make it through the fire–even if He has to carry us for a time.