Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, is introduced to our notice in 2 Chronicles 17. In this chapter we find
God in His grace establishing His servant in the kingdom, and the people of God acknowledging
him therein. Jehoshaphat’s first act was to "strengthen himself against Israel." This is worthy of
notice, for Israel and Israel’s king were ever a snare to the heart of Jehoshaphat in later years of
his reign. But in the beginning of his reign, in the season of his early freshness, he was able to
fortify his kingdom against the power of Israel.

Now, one frequently observes this in the lives of Christians. The evils which in later life prove
their greatest snares are those against which there is the greatest watchfulness at first. Most happy
is it when the spirit of watchfulness increases with our increasing knowledge of the tendencies and
capabilities of our hearts. But this is not always the case. On the contrary, we frequently find
Christians of some years standing indulging in things which at first their consciences would have
shrunk from. This may seem to be the result of leaving behind a legal spirit, but should it not
rather be viewed as the result of leaving behind a tender and sensitive conscience? It would be sad
if the result of enlarged views were a careless spirit or a seared conscience, or if high principles
of truth only tended to render those who were once self-denying and separated, self-indulgent,
careless, and worldly. But it is not so. To grow in the knowledge of truth is to grow in the
knowledge of God, and to grow in the knowledge of God is to grow in practical holiness. The
conscience that can let pass without reproof things from which it would formerly have shrunk is,
we fear, under the hardening influence of the deceitfulness of sin, instead of being under the action
of the truth of God.

(From "Jehoshaphat" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol.1.)