You know who tells the best stories? It’s not Christopher Nolan or Stephen King (though they are phenomenal). It’s our Heavenly Father.
God is the best storyteller because He sees everything from beginning to end. The One who created humans from dust, who rules over roaring oceans and unpredictable winds, who designed the tiniest molecule to the largest galaxy—this is our God who weaves every detail of our lives and the whole creation to showcase a greater picture of His glory.
His stories always have meaning. And throughout the Bible, He uses patterns and themes to reveal who He is: someone who preserves His people and someone who uses unexpected means to do so.
Scripture unfolds a common theme of God hiding or protecting someone who would eventually preserve His people.
Noah and his family were protected in the ark to be a remnant of God’s people (Genesis 6–9). Joseph was protected in slavery through false accusations, even being forgotten in prison, all so that God could preserve Israel and His covenant with Abraham throughout a severe seven-year famine (Genesis 37–50). Baby Moses was hidden among the reeds of the Nile River to save him from Pharaoh’s decree to kill all Hebrew baby boys, eventually becoming the one who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 2–12). David was preserved while being hunted by King Saul, eventually becoming the royal lineage through which the Messiah would come (1 Samuel 19–30). Baby Joash, the last of King Ahaziah’s sons, was protected in the temple while Queen Athaliah destroyed the rest of the Davidic line (2 Kings 11).
Tragedy after tragedy, when all hope seems lost, God is working to bring about something beautiful and worthy. In every shadow of the Bible and every corner of history, He is pointing and preparing us toward a promised Messiah who could one day deliver all peoples across the globe from sin and death forever (Matthew 2:13–15).
God’s preservation comes through unexpected ways. Take Queen Athaliah’s story, for example. As soon as her son, the king of Judah, died, she took it upon herself to kill every last possible heir to the throne so she could secure it herself.
But why does she do it? She’s not just on a power trip; she’s in danger of being wiped out. Her entire family (her father, brothers, mother, and son) is murdered during a coup for the throne of Israel. To preserve herself and her position, she sets out to kill all the possible heirs to the throne in Judah. She brutally leverages her power to protect herself, threatening the extinction of the Davidic line in the process.
We might expect God to do the same when His promises or people face threats. You may anticipate Him to send a mighty warrior to storm in and preserve His promises, but God’s ways will surprise you. Even Jesus’ closest followers misunderstood God’s promise of a Messiah. They imagined Him to be a political or military leader who would crush the oppressive forces of Rome, not at all a baby in a manger, laying His life down willingly for the very people who crucified Him.
Similarly, during Athaliah’s brutal reign, you may expect God to raise a mighty force against her to judge her atrocities and protect the Davidic line from extinction. But instead, God uses the quiet faithfulness of one woman, Jehosheba, who trusts in God’s promises enough to save one of the king’s sons and hide him in the temple for six years with his nurse.
Can you imagine the long-suffering in that? This woman with little to no power kept the biggest secret possible for over half a decade. She had the faith to hide this baby at the cost of her life AND the faith to continue keeping it a secret. And this was no ordinary secret—this was a secret under enormous pressure: the entire fate of God’s promises to bring a Messiah through the line of David weighed upon her shoulders, so she kept quiet, kept trusting, and kept pressing on in faith.
Two women with two outcomes—one trusted God’s will and plan to preserve His people; the other used the power at her disposal to do monstrous things.
God’s ways are unlike ours. He uses unexpected situations, like helpless babies and seeming background characters in history, to preserve His people and promises. And we all have a choice to make, not unlike Queen Athaliah, Jehosheba, and those who came before us: will you desperately grasp for security and power apart from Him to preserve yourself? Or, will you surrender in complete trust to God as the ultimate preserver?
Want to dive deeper? Check out our sermon series guide on Kings of Judah, or watch the most recent sermon from our Kings of Judah sermon series.
