2 Kings 22:2
“And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”
Josiah was the youngest king to reign over the nation of Israel. At eight years old, his father died and he ascended the throne. We read very little of the early years of his reign, but at eighteen, he began a campaign to reform the nation, and turn the people back to the Lord. Josiah would go on to become one of the greatest kings in the nation’s long history. His success is summed up in three simple statements: he did what was right, he walked in the ways of the Lord, and he did not allow himself to become sidetracked by other things. As his story unfolds, we see the application of each of these points.
Josiah wanted to do what was right, and to please the Lord. He recognized, if this was going to happen, he had to make some spiritual investments in the kingdom.
The first step was to repair the broken down Temple. Neglect and the pursuit of other things, had left the Temple in disarray. Josiah sought to restore it; no matter what the cost. During the remodel, the Word of God was discovered in the rubble. It seems as though all the work stopped, as the king and the leaders sought to understand the meaning of God’s Word. With a little counsel, they soon discovered there was a lot more work to be done in the nation than they first believed. King Josiah began a campaign to remove all the articles and rituals which were contrary to the Word of God. By the end of his reign, he restored the Temple, abolished the idolatrous practices, and led many people into a right relationship with the Lord.
Josiah’s life is a great example for anyone who wants to follow the Lord. The first step is always to begin work in our own lives. In order to repair what is lacking in our relationship with the Lord, we must search the pages of His Word, learn what is unacceptable to Him, remove it from our life, then live to please the Lord. Then we will find our lives will impact others, and encourage them to pursue the Lord as well.
Now would be a good time to examine your life. Are there things that have been built in, that should be removed? Are you practicing things that are forbidden by the Word of God? If so follow the example of Josiah and remove them no matter what the cost.
Pastor Jim
Paul declared, all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. Every page of God’s Word has a purpose in the life of the believer. However, there are certain passages that have greater meaning to each of us, because of the impact they have had upon our lives. This is a particularly important text to me.
Manasseh, king of Judah, will go down in history as the king who caused the fall of the nation. It was not his foreign policy, his economic plan, or his tax code, that killed the nation. Instead, it was his view of God and his stance regarding sin that would weaken the nation, and lead to its collapse. Later we read,
Imagine what this promise meant for Hezekiah. First, he was ill, so it meant he would be healed. Second, it meant he would have more time. Third, it meant a clock started that night, giving him an expiration date. Fifteen years from this promise, Hezekiah would breath his last. This promise has often made me wonder, “What I would do with fifteen more years?” How would you react, if suddenly you were given an expiration date? Let’s take a look at what Hezekiah did.
Assyria was on a campaign to conquer the world. Their armies were sent out to defeat any nation that showed the least resistance. Judah had watched as their neighbors Israel and Syria were defeated, and the people taken away as slaves. Now, with the Assyrian army at their doorstep, it seemed as though Judah would be the next to fall. Delegates, representing the king of Assyria, came to Jerusalem and openly threatened the people, in order to destroy what little confidence they might have had in the Lord. These delegates reminded the people that no other nation had been able to resist the Assyrian conquest, and Judah would be no different. It was here, they made their biggest mistake. They thought Israel’s God was no different than the manmade gods of other nations.
It seems to me, if one thing is certain in life, it is that things are constantly moving. We live on a moving planet. At the equator, the Earth is spinning at 1000 miles per hour, moving at 67,000 miles per hour around the Sun, and our entire Galaxy is moving at about 185 miles per second. Since this motion is constant, we cannot feel its effects. However, there is other movement that we do notice. The United States Geological Survey website lists dozens of earthquakes that have happened around the world in the past seven days. Earthquakes happen because the earth’s surface is like a thin crust. This crust is made up of many pieces, like a puzzle, and the pieces keep moving around and bumping into each other. This causes the surface of the earth to move like waves rippling in a pond. Also, about 70% of the earth’s surface is water. That means almost three-quarters of the earth is too unstable to stand upon. As far as I know, Jesus and Peter are the only two people to successfully stand on the surface of the water, and that did not last too long for Pete.
The Psalmist is speaking of the benefits derived from living in an intimate, abiding relationship with God. Jesus also spoke on the same subject when He refered to Himself as the vine and us as the branches. He made it clear, the only way to bear fruit in our life was by remaining in a close and personal relationship with Him. This verse expresses one of the most important benefits of abiding.
Webster’s dictionary defines secret as, “kept from view or hidden.”mIt goes on to speak of something as “being covert or stealth,” implying that great pains are taken to avoid detection.
Over the years I have discovered something about myself, I am better at projects than I am at maintenance. My yard is a classic example. We worked hard to irrigate, lay sod, and plant trees, and our yard looked good for a little while. As time went on however, we discovered that neglect undid much of our labors, and before long, things looked rather unkept. It seems like Azariah had a similar problem; while he desired to live pleasing to the Lord and made great strides, he still neglected certain areas that needed his attention. One area in particular, was the “high places”, where altars were built to false gods. These shrines were destructive to the nation because they served as an open door to lead the people away from the true and living God. The only way to properly deal with the high places was to aggressively attack the problem. Azariah needed to mount an offensive and destroy the altars.
The Northern tribes of Israel reached the zenith of their strength under king Jeroboam II. Here we are given insight into the secret behind their success:
