The more steadfast we are in religion, the mightier we shall be for the resistance of evil and the performance of good.
II Chronicles 27
1 Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly.
3 He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
5 ¶ He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.
6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.
7 ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
8 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9 ¶ And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
II Chronicles 27 – J. Vernon McGee
2 Chronicles 27:1-9 – Ordering His Way before God
This story of Jotham is memorable if only for one sentence; that he became mighty because he ordered his way before the Lord his God. We should order our lives, as we order our prayers. First things must come first. We should always consider, in anticipating any course of action, how best to promote God’s glory and the interests of His Kingdom. As far as lies in our power, we should adopt and follow some plan or program, such as He will reveal to us. An ordered life is a mighty life. The people that make themselves felt in the world are those who can say with Paul (Philippians 3:13), “This one thing I do.” They are invulnerable and invincible. Repressed in one place, they break out in another; cast down, they are not destroyed; perplexed, they are not in despair. An ordered and mighty life draws its supplies from God. However well-laid our plans, or single our purpose, nothing avails apart from God. It is by Him that we become strong; and His power, allied with us and working through us, make us more than conquerors. —Through the Bible Day by Day
II Chronicles 27:6—Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways.
There is a lower sense in which this holds good in daily and business life. You can hardly imagine a really successful man being untidy and disorderly. Method is the law of success; and a truly holy soul is sure to be orderly. I do not remember ever meeting one who really walked with God who did not make orderliness one of the first principles of life.
The Lord Jesus would have the men sit down in rows before He broke the bread; and He wrapped together His grave-clothes before He left the sepulchre. It was, therefore, in keeping with the whole tenor of His example when the apostle prescribed that all things should be done decently and in order.
Clear handwriting, especially the direction of an envelope, to give the postman as little trouble as possible; the careful folding of our cast-off garments, to save the maids needless work; the leaving our room that we have been occupying as little disturbed in its arrangements as may be; the gathering up of luncheon fragments from the green banks, where we have sat to view the entrancing prospect; the arrangement of papers, and accounts, and magazines, so that we can readily lay our hand upon whatever is required; the adopting of mental order in prayer and conversation, and in the thinking out of plans and purposes; neatness in dress—these are all part of the right ordering of life which makes for its success and comfort, and greatly for peace in the home. They are the habits of the soul that walks before God, and which is accustomed to think of Him as seeing in secret, and as considering all our ways. In this way we may become mighty, and by being faithful in that which is least come to great charges. —Our Daily Homily