Alliances can be good or dangerous. Who we spend time with, is what we will become. We need to be wise regarding relationships.
In my younger years when the show “Survivor” first came out, I watched the first few seasons. In the show at that time, around 20 people would be left stranded on some remote island and then have to win their way to be the remaining “survivor/winner” by completing tasks and/or creative strategy.
Usually alliances would be developed among the survivors in order to create “friends” to stay on the island and hopefully, ultimately win. But if you have ever watched the show (I haven’t watched for over 15+ years) some alliances helped and others destroyed their chances.
We see the same in the Bible and need look no further than King Jehoshaphat. He made good alliances and bad ones. A bad alliance almost cost him his life and another cost him great wealth.
But he made a really good alliance as well —-that saved his life and the life of his people!
2 Chronicles 18:1—he made an alliance with King Ahab by marriage.
2 Chronicles 18:3—he aligned with Ahab to go to war without first consulting the Lord. Ultimately one good prophet was ultimately consulted and said it was a bad idea. But Jehoshaphat did it anyway and it almost cost him his life!
2 Chron 20: Jehoshaphat then repented, especially when a vast army was coming out against them. And he did the right thing. He cried out to God and had the people corporately fast and pray.
He aligned himself with God and they had a mighty miraculous victory as all three armies who challenged them were defeated. It could ONLY have been by God’s deliverance.
The power of a God alliance right?
SEE ALSO: Who Are You Aligned With?
You would have thought he would have learned from that, but evidently not. Before that chapter is even completed we learn he made another alliance with an evil king to go into business together.
2 Chron 20:35 –36: Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. We learn God wasn’t happy with the alliance at all and the fleet of ships ultimately wound up on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Nothing has changed since those days.
In fact, it is a warning to us that who we align with can ultimately either save us or destroy us.
I’m involved in political issues in my city and state and have watched some really good people make some really bad alliances. Every single time I’ve seen the good person align with someone not good, they end up becoming like the bad person they aligned with.
The problem is what I’ve seen so far, they don’t even seem to realize they have moved far, far off true north.
Who we spend time with is who we ultimately will become. If we spend time with someone who lies and cheats and then go into business or some other relationship with them, it WILL rub off on us—and ultimately, like in the case of Jehoshaphat, it destroyed almost everything.
Who are you aligned with? In business? Friendships? Politics? It’s an important question and one we would all do well to ask ourselves and take heed to the Spirit.
