Pillar or Pendulum?

King Uzziah, the father of Jotham, transgressed by burning incense to God in the temple at Jerusalem--something only sanctified priests were permitted to do by the Law of Moses.  Lifted up with pride, Jotham went beyond his station as king and brought judgment upon himself from God who struck him with leprosy.  His condition prevented him from continuing to rule as he did previously, and being a leper became more a defining feature of his reign than his feats of engineering, warfare and husbandry.  He did what was right in the eyes of God generally speaking, but his sin led to a great fall.  Jotham noticed this and took note.

2 Chronicles 27:2 provides an interesting detail concerning the reign of Jotham:  "And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done (although he did not enter the temple of the LORD). But still the people acted corruptly."  Jotham prepared his heart to walk in God's ways and took care to avoid the sin committed by his father who went into the holy place and burned incense on the altar.  Some people have blamed God for judgments He has administered or troubles He allowed, but Jotham did not do so.  The people continued to live corruptly, but he was not swayed by them either.  He did not walk in the sins of his father or the people, and it is most commendable how Jotham remained faithful to God.

If you ever observed a pendulum swinging in a clock or the Foucault Pendulum at the Griffith Observatory, the pendulum goes from one side to the other.  The place it pauses, ever so slightly, is at the most extreme range of its movement.  I have observed this movement to align with typical responses in people, to swing to the opposite extreme than to remain in a central and stable position.  Some who are raised by overbearing parents can rebel against them, and others who had few boundaries are pleased to enforce many.  I imagine there are people, who if their father had been stricken by leprosy from God, would have bailed on God entirely as if God was to blame.  Maybe they would have stayed as far away from the temple precinct, worried they too might be struck with leprosy if they sinned in some obscure manner.  As the passage is rendered in the NKJV, it seems Jotham still worshipped God publicly in the temple courts but did not enter the holy place in the temple as his father did.

2 Chronicles 27:6 says, "So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God."  We do well to follow Jotham's example of faith and obedience to God, who prepared his heart and ways before the LORD his God.  He was not influenced to do evil by his father's proud example, nor did he reject God in anger as a untrustworthy tyrant for putting his father in his place.  Jotham was also not swayed by numbers of corrupt people and remained steadfast in faith.  How many people, I wonder, would have been like a pendulum in Jotham's situation rather than an immoveable pillar given the sinful, swirling influences all around.  In an effort to oppose or push back on what is wrong we can go too far, swinging like a pendulum away from balance in the middle by faith in Christ where righteousness, truth, grace, love and mercy meet.