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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this final weekend in July.
All this week we’ve been looking at what God does in us… when He RENEWs us. This weekend I’d like you to consider how contagious RENEWAL can be, and that God can actually use one person, whom He has renewed, to ignite a REVIVAL in many people, even a nation! Do you think God would like to see REVIVAL in your part of the world, maybe starting this weekend?
Josiah was a young boy, only 8 years old, when suddenly, through the death of his father Amon, his childhood was stripped away from him, and he was expected to grow up fast. Within hours of his father’s death, Josiah was actually crowned king of a small nation, and expected to help bring hope to the people living at a desperate time in history. You’ll find the story in the Bible in 2 Chronicles 34 and 2 Kings 22.
Josiah’s royal family tree was amazing. His great grandfather had been the remarkable king Hezekiah, during whose reign in Jerusalem God had done amazing things. Peace and prosperity had spread across the whole country, and God had miraculously protected Jerusalem from a huge invading army. Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh, who was born during the additional 15 years God gave Hezekiah after healing him miraculously from a terminal illness. Manasseh was a wicked, cruel, ruthless man who reigned 55 years and overturned every good thing his father King Hezekiah had done.
The grand city of Jerusalem was almost unrecognizable by the end of Manasseh’s life as there were idols everywhere, crime was out of control, the economy was in shambles and division among the people was so widespread it was near anarchy. Josiah’s father Amon followed in the horrible footsteps of his father Manasseh and he was so bad the Bible records that: “Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace. Then the people killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made young Josiah his son, king in his place.” (2 Chron. 33:24,25)
Into this terrible environment an 8 year old boy was suddenly thrust, with the high expectations that somehow he would bring change, that would renew a desperate people and dying city. What happened next reveals a pattern to me, that I believe could happen in our day…where-ever you live, my friends. Let’s dig in together… 2 Chronicles 34. “Josiah was 8 yrs old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years! Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD God…In the 8th year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to SEEK the God of his ancestor king David.” There it is my friends! There is where RENEW begins. Josiah could easily have been consumed with the pomp and circumstance of being a boy-king… the palace, the bountiful table of food, the people bowing when they entered his royal presence.
Instead something stirred deep inside young Josiah. He knew things could be much better, for everyone, and it could start with him. Would he SEEK the God of his ancestors? The stories he had heard and read told him of God’s great miracles of decades and centuries past, stirred deeply in him…but they always came in response to the people seeking to KNOW God and HONOR Him with their lives! Young Josiah knew that path of seeking God would require significant change, starting with him, but the potential of what God might do was well worth the price!
So, what do you see the leaders SEEKING where you live? The leaders at every level of your society in business, politics, health care, education, entertainment and even religion. And what about you and me. . . what are we SEEKING these days? What if we pursued a new path… a SEEKING to know God and Honor God? Now let’s look at what happened next in Josiah’s journey:
“In his 12th year (of his reign) he began to PURGE Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images. Under his direction, the altars of the Baals were torn down…” PURGE is a strong word. It sounds like a root canal or an amputation or maybe chemo-therapy or radiation. After four years of SEEKING to know God, Josiah began to see his world through the eyes of God. The idols and altars to false gods all around Jerusalem, that he and others had grown accustomed to seeing suddenly he not only saw with new eyes, but he was repulsed by them.
The more Josiah thought of what God had done to bless and protect that city over the centuries, the more he was deeply grieved by the actions of his father and grandfather who had built those idols. He faced a decision. He alone had the authority to remove them, and so he did, and with a vengeance… he began to PURGE his city from the evil his own family had brought. It appears many of the people joined him in clearing the clutter from their great city. Look around my friends, what has been the influence of your family in the place where you live? Does some purging need to take place?
Could it be you and I are living in cities where over the years have decisions been made by people and affirmed by local leaders which have pushed God out and replaced Him with all types of things that will appear repulsive to us when our eyes and hearts are RENEWED by our passionate pursuit of God? And if we don’t notice those repulsive things now, what does that tell us about our hearts and our spiritual eyes?
Notice what Josiah did next: “In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign (26 yrs old), to purify the land and the temple, he sent leaders to repair the temple of the LORD his God...the men did the work faithfully…Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses.” (2 Chron. 34:8-14) Oh my, what does this tell us my friends? It had been almost 100 years since his great grandfather king Hezekiah had experienced the last great revival in Jerusalem. Do you see one of the major reasons Jerusalem had so dramatically decayed as a great city of God’s people? God had been pushed out. The temple had fallen into disrepair, the Book of the Law, the Scriptures, had been put in some closet in a back room and forgotten. Worship had become a simple formality attended by few and replaced by many with worship of other man-made idols. Leadership had turned away from God and the people had followed, and God had removed His hand of blessing. Jerusalem was a shell of what it once was. Look closely at your city, what do you see my friends?
As you read the rest of 2 Chronicles 34 you’ll see Josiah sent for help to understand God’s Scriptures. Evidently no one in the administration of his government, no one in the royal court knew much of anything about this great Book of God that had been discovered. So they searched, and finally they found a person, a godly woman, a prophetess named Huldah, who evidently was a faithful worshipper of God. Look closely at her message for the king: “This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people – all the curses written in this book that has been read in the presence of king Josiah. Because they have forsaken Me…My anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me: This is what the LORD says: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God…you will be buried in peace, your eyes will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this place…” (2 Chron. 34:18-28)
While this must have been a great relief to Josiah, to know God’s outpouring of judgment would not happen in his lifetime, the young king knew there was much more he could do to help the people. As you continue reading the account you’ll see Josiah called all the people together. “He read the Book of God and he renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD – to follow the LORD and keep His commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul…as long as Josiah lived, the people did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers.” (2 Chron. 34:29-33) My “Walking with Jesus” friend around the world, do you see how the RENEWal of one man’s heart, in his relationship with God, was contagious and spread through an entire city and region, and lasted for many years? Would you ask God to show you if this is something He would like to do in and through you where you live?
Finally, I invite you to read how this spiritual RENEWAL of King Josiah ignited REVIVAL in the land. 2 Chronicles 35:1-19 tells us in Josiah’s 18th year, at his age 26, he called the people together for the Passover Celebration and this one statement captures this incredible event in history: “The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.”
Josiah is revered in history as the boy king who turned a nation back to God with his own personal spiritual renewal which was contagious among the people and ignited a spiritual revival unlike anything seen in nearly 500 years! Now as we ponder this my friends, and look around our world this weekend, what might the Holy Spirit of God be saying into your heart about the condition of your heart, your family, your community your nation. . .and what might God do if you and I would seek God as Josiah did, regardless of your age or your position in society?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Chronicles 34; 2 Chronicles 35. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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