“Be with the king in all his daily tasks.” – 2 Kings 11.8, CSB
These were the instructions of the priest, Jehoiada, to the guards who were to protect the young king, Joash, from his grandmother, who had murdered all of the royal heirs to the throne six years before (2 Kings 11.1). The guards stood in the temple on guard with weapons in hand, surrounding the young king, ready to protect him from anything and anyone who would threaten him.
But what if we were to take this command from Jehoiada and apply it to our King’s invitation to remain in him? Jesus told his disciples during his last Passover meal with them before he took the cross the next day, “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me” (John 15.4, CSB). That word “remain” (or abide, depending on your translation) was used by Jesus in the first ten verses of John 15 ten times. The word means to stay and to “continue to exist, remain in existence, to wait for, remain in a place or state, and expect something in the future.”* It means to never leave the presence of someone. So, Jesus’ invitation is never to leave his presence but to remain with him constantly.
So, again, what if we took those instructions from a priest to protect a child-king, and applied them to ourselves today as an invitation from our Great High Priest to be with him, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, all day in all his daily tasks. Not to protect him, because he needs no protection. Our King protects us. Rather, to simply be with him. To be involved with what he is doing. To be part of the work that God is accomplishing on the earth. To be consciously aware and intentionally mindful of what God is up to every day.
What a beautiful invitation from Jesus to remain in him, to never leave his side. What a beautiful invitation to be with the King in all his daily tasks.
* Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), Electronic ed., Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.
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Brian J Holland 
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