Josiah

Josiah

The world in which we now live gives us Christians a unique opportunity to show that our faith is different from anything that this world can offer. But too many times we, as Christians, judge our “high standards” from the view of the world, and not by view of the Word. This seems to be an issue addressed in the story of Josiah. It shows us that when God’s Word convicts the heart, there must be action taken in ridding your life of the things that are not honoring to Him. You may find yourself looking twice at things that were, beforehand, no big deal in your spiritual eyes; but have now come under the shining light of the Word of God.
We find Josiah in 2 Kings 22 realizing that something must be done about the dire situation the house of God was in. He knows that it must be rebuilt, and so he sends some of his best men to take care of the house of God. Upon their inspection they find the book of the Law, and upon reading it they take it to Josiah so that he can hear what it says.
When Josiah heard the words of the law, he was cut to the heart. But there seems to be some preparation before this, for verse 19 states that his heart was “tender”. At the beginning of this chapter it stated that Josiah was following after all that his father David had done, which means that he did have some knowledge of following God, and the importance that it must have in his life. So following the 18 year preparation (for that was how long he had been king when the law was found) he was uniquely ready to hear the law of God, and his heart was prepared to react in a godly, penitent way to what it said.
Following his humble reaction, Josiah took definitive action in following the book of the law. This required him to destroy many things that had been going on during his first 18 years as king. There are times when I find it hard to believe some of the things that had been going on during those years. We see in chapter 23 many of the evils that had been going on: vessels made for Baal that were in the temple; houses of male cult prostitutes; priests who burned incense to Baal on the high hills; and many other places of corruption that Solomon and Manasseh had brought to the land of Judah.
After destroying these things he restored the Passover celebration and caused the people, which God had given him, to turn back to the Lord. Surprisingly, it says that there was no king before or after him who had returned to the Lord with so complete a reform.
Fittingly, I see this story as a wake up to call to the church of God today. We may think that we are living from a higher standard than the world, but we must not judge ourselves from this world’s perspective! The only Litmus test for our lives must be the test of Gods holy word, living and active, as it is read and meditated upon in our personal lives and in our churches.
Josiah reminds us that we must care for the church of God, come to God in humbleness when His Word convicts us, and completely rid ourselves of the things that entangle us and weigh us down. These three things will challenge our heart, soul, and mind in their pursuit of total dedication to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It may be that some of the things will be painful to get rid of; but for the honor and glory of Christ, we know that truly, it is nothing.