Monday, August 25: 2Kings 23- Absolute faithfulness until his dying day.

 

Josiah was an amazing king. His absolute and utter faithfulness to the Lord is astounding. He rid Judah, and even Samaria and Bethel, of all foreign gods. He even destroyed the high places, something no other king had done. In fact, he reached back and rid Israel of idols and false gods that date back to Solomon. Not since the days of David, was there this complete faithfulness to the Lord.

There is not a single indication of faithlessness in Josiah. A babe when he became king, he remained faithful until his dying day.

Lord, Josiah represents my prayer… faithfulness until my dying day. Oh, God, may it be so. May it be so! Amen.

 

Mulling over this chapter, I had some follow up thoughts… reading the list of things Josiah cleaned up; idols in the temple and shrine prostitutes at the temple; pagan priest functioning from the temple and then everything else in and around Jerusalem. It is amazing what Josiah had to do to rid Judah and Israel of all the false gods.

Josiah’s reforms illustrate for me how far we can drift from God if we do not have God’s Word to keep us on track. I’m sure many people thought all these idols were okay.  Maybe some even thought they were honoring of the Lord. How could this be? When the Word is absent to teach and correct us, we can concoct all kinds of things we humans think are okay. Plus, we can incorporate rituals and elements of other religions, thinking that, too, is okay. Without The Word, we can drift so far from the Lord that what we humans create doesn’t look at all like what the Lord would have us be and do.

This is a frightening thought for me, as I watch people and churches and denominations drift further and further from the plain and historic teachings of the Word of God.