Imagine not having the Bible. In the days of this chapter no one has read the word of God in 20, 40, 100 years. Everything they know about God comes from what others have told them. Now remember they haven’t read the actual Word of God. What they know comes from the corporate memory of people who have instructed them and the people who have instructed them… and so on back 2, 3, possibly 4 generations. What would that be like?
That was Josiah’s world until the day Hilkiah found the Book of the Law…
The text reads, When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes (20). He then asked the priests to speak with God, ‘What should we do?’ And the Lord responded, they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book (21)."
As I was reading this, a thought experiment came to my mind. What if we read the Bible from today forward as if it were both the first time we read it and it was the ABSOLUTE Word of God which we sought to obey faithfully and to the letter? How would our lives change?
It occurred to me that we can have the word of God all around us, yet live as if it has no impact at all in our lives. A favorite professor of mine likened the Gospel to a vaccine saying, “We can have just enough of the Gospel to keep us from getting the real Gospel.”
If I might adapt it to my thought experiment, I wonder if we can have just enough of the Bible laying around that it has lost its impact on our lives? I hope not, but I wonder.
After all this thinking, I found a challenge welling up inside of me. How about reading the Bible and accepting the plain meaning of what the words say. What a great challenge and one I will start Saturday when we begin reading Romans…!
Lord, thank You for this wake up call, this reminder to listen to Your Word and accepting the plain meaning of the text. Help me. Lord, to do this, not just for a while but for the remainder of my days this side of eternity.
I wonder, Lord, how my life will change… I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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