In 2 Kings 22-23 the reign of king Josiah is documented. It was during his reign that the book of the law, the book we know as Deuteronomy, was found and presented to the king.
Josiah was 26 years old when he heard God's word for the first time and he was immediately cut to the heart. In verse 11 of chapter 22 we are told he "tore his robes." A sign in those days of great distress. He also proclaimed in verse 13 of that same chapter that the Lord's anger must be very great because the words of this book have not been obeyed. Then Josiah set about instituting reforms throughout the land. He started by having God's word read aloud to all of the people and he renewed the covenant (23:1-3). Then he broke down all the shrines and alters dedicated to idols (23:8-16). Then he got rid of all the individuals that were influencing the people to follow godless ways (23:24).
There is a lot to learn from Josiah. Three primary lessons.
1. When you hear God's word, believe it.
2. When you hear God's word, obey it.
3. When you have God's word, proclaim it.
We live in times where these three simple lessons are very much in need. The assault upon God's word in our post modern time is never ending. To the vast majority of the people around us (both in and outside of the church) the Bible is simply a book for nice, high minded spiritual guidance. WRONG! It is the revealed word of God! Do you believe that? God has condescended to speak to us through the written word and then through his word in flesh, Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Do you take it seriously? Are you finding yourself gagged by society and in some instances by the church itself? Josiah was going right along with the world around him until he was enlightened by God's word. Once enlightened he could no longer live in the same way, he obeyed what he heard. Are you obeying what you hear from God? Or are you going along to get along? Is going along to get along how your friends, neighbors, and family know you? There is a popular bumper sticker these days using the symbols of various world religions to spell out the word COEXIST. If Josiah were alive today he would not only be tearing his robes, he would be tearing the bumpers off the cars and banishing the people making this proclamation! I ask you, can light and darkness coexist? Many "leaders" today would have you believe the lie of the universalist that all religions are equal. Very few things can be farther from the truth than this. Jesus made very exclusive claims and backed those claims up by rising from the dead. Read God's word, it is not a simple self help book. It is a shout from God Almighty to a hard of hearing humanity, telling them there is only one way, truth, and life. Think for one moment. Who determines how we are to approach God? Is it man? No, it is God. Josiah knew this and you should too.
Josiah not only believed and obeyed God's word, he proclaimed it. How are you proclaiming God's word? It is fascinating to see so many video series, third party books about how to improve your relationship with God, programs to transform our community, seminars, retreats, conventions, conclaves and more, these days "showing" the way to God. What has happened to the primacy of God's word? Josiah got it right. He didn't start a program, send individuals to retreats or have individuals come to learn about the latest spiritual movement. No, he assembled the people and read to them God's word. Take a look at Nehemiah 8:8. It reads: "They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." Everything else is simply window dressing. We have lost our focus when it comes to God's word. The pews are full of biblically illiterate individuals, relying upon the pastor or leader up front to tell them what they need to know. BEWARE! This is the same mistake that people made in the times leading up to the Reformation. Why are we returning to such practices? There is no advantage to those of us living in a land overflowing with the written word of God, compared to individuals that have never even seen a Bible, if you don't read the Bible! Let God's word be proclaimed in your life, read it! Let it be proclaimed in the lives of your children, read it to them. Let it be proclaimed in the lives of those you know, invite them to a bible study! God's word will not come back unfulfilled.
What can Josiah teach you?
No comments:
Post a Comment