This is one of those stories that almost reads like a movie.
Here is what is happening. The king dies. And his mother, Athaliah, decides she wants the throne. So she starts killing the rest of the royal family. Including her own grandchildren.
Let that sit for a second.
A grandmother killing her grandchildren so she can rule.
But one of her grandchildren got away.
The king's sister, Jehoshabeath, grabbed her infant nephew Joash before Athaliah could get to him. She hid him, along with his nurse, and then took him to the temple where her husband was the priest. And that is where he stayed.
For six years.
A baby. Then a toddler. Then a small boy. Hidden in the temple of God while his grandmother sat on a throne that was not hers, murdering anyone who got in her way.
How do you even hide an infant for six years? Babies cry. Toddlers run. Kids ask questions. And somehow, with the help of God, this child stayed hidden in plain sight in one of the most sacred places in the kingdom.
That is the part I cannot get over.
God had a plan for this little boy. A throne that was rightfully his. A future the rest of his family was murdered before they could see.
And while a wicked queen sat on the throne thinking she had wiped out the line of David, God had quietly preserved it. One baby. Hidden in His house. Protected for His purpose.
I love that the temple was the place where Joash was kept safe.
The very place dedicated to God became the very place that protected the next king. The line of David ran straight through the house of God. The future of an entire kingdom was kept alive in the building where God's people came to worship.
That feels like a picture of something bigger.
God's purposes do not get cancelled by the schemes of people in power. They get hidden. Quietly. Carefully. Sometimes for years. And then He brings them back out when the time is right.
I think about how often I assume something has been ruined because of what someone else did. Or because of the season I am in. Or because of how long it has been. And the truth is, sometimes what feels like silence is actually God hiding something safe until the right moment.
Athaliah ruled for six years thinking she had won.
She had not.
There was a boy in the temple. And he was the rightful king.
God's plans are not as fragile as we think they are. And He is not running out of time. Even when everything around us looks like the wrong people are winning, He is preserving what matters in places we cannot see.