2 Chronicles 34:8

2 Chronicles 34:8 says, Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.  After eighteen years of being the king, Josiah sent people to repair the house of the Lord.  We might wonder why it took him so long, but he had been very young when he first started to rule, and was just now what we would call grown.  He had purged the temple of all the things that were corrupting it, and now he was going to repair the building itself.  Since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we need to purge ourselves of all things that are not in accordance with God's word, and we need to take care of ourselves physically so that we can do what God has called us to do to the best of our ability.  Verse nine adds, And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.  The Levites had been gathering money from all the people of Judah, and those of Israel that were worshipping God, even if the nation as a whole didn't.  It seems that they not only collected money at the door of the temple, but they may have traveled around to these different parts of the nation to gather the money as well.  Then, they brought it back to the high priest.  As Christians, we all need to be involved in supporting the spreading of the gospel today, even if those around us oppose doing so.  Everything we are blessed with should be used for the glorification of our High Priest, Jesus Christ. Verse ten continues, And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:  When they had given the money to the high priest, he delivered it to the workmen who were actually going to do the work.  If we as a body of believers collectively gather money today, I believe that we should put it to work for advancing God's kingdom.  Verse eleven states, Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.  Money was needed to but the things necessary to repair the temple, and the high priest trusted that those who were going to do the repairs would know what they needed and use the money wisely.  Sometimes, we may have to trust that those who are doing work on the church building know what they are doing and give them the resources they need to do so.  This doesn't mean that we don't still maintain an oversight on how the money or resources are used.  Verse twelve adds, And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.  As stated, there need to be accountability for how the money was used, and the Levites, particularly Jahath and Obadiah were the overseers of the work.  It also states that the people paid to do the work did it faithfully, and if we hire people to do work in the church today, we need to pray that they will do so faithfully.  Verse thirteen continues, Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.  The Levites oversaw all the work that was being done.  I don't believe that they questioned everything that was done, but they were simply making sure that the money was used wisely.  We cannot observe firsthand everything that is being done to advance God's kingdom, but we can keep a general oversight of the work, especially if we are in charge of the resources of the church.