Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
You understand the fundamental life principle of “cause and effect” don’t you? When you drop a stone in a pool of water, ripples flow out in all directions from that spot, right? When you shout in a canyon you hear an echo, right? God has designed our universe and the human life experience to function very predictably with many ’cause and effect’ relationships, right? So today, let’s return to Jerusalem about 2600 years ago as God is proclaiming some very important ’cause and effect’ realities about God’s relationship with our human race.
I left you yesterday in the home of a woman named Huldah. Visiting her were officials from Josiah, the young king of the southern kingdom Judah. These officials had come to seek Huldah’s wisdom from God. The ancient Book of the Law of Moses had been found in the Temple during a renovation project and as the words were read to king Josiah he was shocked and he made this powerful ’cause and effect’ statement: “Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” (2 Chronicles 34:21)
Josiah recognized an important cause and effect reality that you and I are living today. Do you know what it is? We live in the shadow of the choices made by those who have lived before us. Our children and grandchildren live in the shadow of our choices, do you see that? In these days the news headlines almost every day, highlight decisions or job appointments president elect Trump is making in anticipation of his upcoming 4-year US presidency. Many of those decisions and personnel appointments are in RESPONSE to what has taken place in America and our world under the Biden administration of the past four years. That’s ’cause and effect’ leadership, do you see that my friends?
The prophetess Huldah went on to proclaim to king Josiah’s officials that for this ’cause and effect’ reason God was “going to bring disaster on this place [Jerusalem] and its people…” (2 Chron. 34:24) Huldah apparently did not wait for the officials to ask her any questions. The message she was delivering to them from God was severe and important as a ’cause and effect’ message so she continued: “Because the people have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods and aroused My anger by all that their hands have made, My anger will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.” (2 Chron. 34:25) That’s quite clear isn’t it my friends? With intentionality Kings Amon and Manasseh had led the Jews in fabricating idols and constructing altars and high places for worshiping those idols; and with their mouths these kings had ordered the Jewish people to forsake worship of Almighty, Holy God in Israel and instead turn to worshiping these idols and statues made of wood and stone. As a result, the hand of God’s blessing during the reign of God honoring King Hezekiah had been removed and replaced with the hand of God’s discipline during the reigns of Kings Manasseh and Amon. Furthermore, now God was predicting His hand of Judgment would soon come upon Jerusalem and the people of Israel.
I imagine Josiah’s officials were trembling as they listened to Huldah’s shocking words. If her words were true, they and their families would soon be under the judgment of God and that may mean captivity in a foreign land or death, for that is what had happened to the northern kingdom Israel when they were conquered by Assyria. (2 Kings 17:21-23)
But Huldah had more to say and the officials listened very carefully: “Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ‘Because YOUR heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what God spoke against this place and its people, and because you wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD. Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.” (2 Chron. 34:26-28)
I imagine the eyes of those officials widened in wonder and their mouths may have dropped open in awe! God was promising to spare them all because young King Josiah had responded to the reading of God’s Word with humility and remorse and had sent the officials to inquire of God. Josiah was deeply grieved by the evil leadership decisions of his father King Amon and his grandfather King Manasseh, both very wicked men.
Josiah knew he could do nothing about the past. He was responsible NOW in the present, for Jerusalem and the people of Judah. Can you imagine the anxiety with which Josiah waited for the report of his officials whom he’d sent to the prophet Huldah?
I wonder if while they were with Huldah, Josiah asked the priests to read more of the Book of the Law to him. It’s safe for us to assume he had probably never heard it before and his appetite for God’s Word was likely insatiable. It was all a new discovery for him. May I ask you… has there ever been a time in your life when your appetite for God’s Word was insatiable, and you simply could not get enough of it?
Day and night you kept reading and as you read the Holy Spirit spoke powerfully the truths of God into your heart and mind. Were you overwhelmed with the majesty and holiness and wonder of God? Were you convicted and shamed as your sin was revealed to you in God’s Word? Did you repent in remorse as Josiah did? Did you seek wisdom from others who knew God much better than you?
I wonder if Josiah fasted and prayed and immersed himself in God’s Word while he waited for what word his officials would bring back to him from inquiring of God with Huldah? Let’s do the same today my friends, and tomorrow we’ll see what happened as King Josiah heard their report.
For today, I urge us to ponder the ’cause and effect’ realities of our lives. What are you living with today that is a direct result of the choices you’ve made in your past… both good and unwise choices? What fresh word would God like to speak into your life and mine about the ’cause and effect’ of choices we are making now? And here’s a worship song to help us consider these important questions…
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 34:21-28.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“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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