Friday, September 17: 2Kings 23- The face of faithfulness and faithlessness

I found myself pondering two opposites as I read this morning. First there was the faithfulness of Josiah. King since he was 8, priests find the Book of the Law during Josiah’s 18th year as king. What does he do? He calls all the leaders of Judah from far and wide.  He reads the book before everyone and then he renews the covenant of the Lord (1-3). You could not script a more faith-filled response to the sudden and unexpected finding of the Book of the Law. For the rest of his 31 years as king, he proceeds to make good on the renewed covenant.  He does this by destroying all the despicable idols, temples, high places, shrines and all the priests and servants of these idols from the temple, from the city of Jerusalem and from throughout all the land, even into the former northern kingdom. It takes 22 verses, most of the chapter, to describe Josiah’s cleansing of Israel. That is faithfulness!

Find God’s word and live it. Discover something new in God’s word and live it… no ‘ifs, and or buts.’ Straightforward, unadulterated faithfulness… what an account, what a man…to be like Josiah!!!

Contrasting Josiah’s faithfulness was the incredible faithlessness of Israel over the years, in part due to the fact that they didn’t have God’s written word. Think of it this way…

For 18 years Josiah apparently thought he was living and governing faithfully to the Lord yet all kinds of idols and false gods were being worshiped at the Temple and throughout the land. Because people were living by ‘corporate memory’, without the corrective of God’s written word, all kinds of idolatry seeded itself among God’s people. Like weeds in an untended garden they eventually took over. Some weeds dated back to Solomon!

Josiah and the people did not know better, they had no standard, no guide, no word! This is what happens when God’s word is lost, ignored or edited by people.

It is sad for me to write this but it seems that a variation of this is happening in many churches in our country and throughout the western world. God’s standard is being edited and ignored and like our OT counterparts, things not of God are creeping in and being called the way of God.

Lord, in humility I ask, may I have the fidelity to Your word that Josiah had.  First may it live in my life and only after personal faithfulness use me as You will to call others to faithfulness to You through obedience to Your written and revealed word. Amen.

 

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