Scroll down to see and play Audio.
Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if the month of December is for you a time of deep personal reflection, maybe even heritage reflection as the year draws to a close? Like sand in the hour glass, there isn’t much time left before this remarkable year of 2020 becomes written in history as a permanent record. Every person writes their version of history, don’t we? I wonder what your version of 2020 will be when you finish writing your record? What have been your personal highlights and lowlights of this year?
While it has been a year of the global COVID pandemic, and a tumultuous American election, I suggest the more important question is what has been your SPIRITUAL journey in 2020? Who are you this December as compared to one year ago at this time or 10 years ago, or 20 years ago?
In the past few weeks I’ve been leading us through a study of the leadership of the Kingdom of Israel as recorded in the Bible. One of the things we see clearly is that every person leaves behind a legacy which is the summary of their life. We spent several days looking at Hezekiah’s 29 year reign and one day looking at Manasseh’s 55 year reign. Why? Because of the dramatic difference in how their lives were shaped by God’s involvement in their lives and their leadership. I’ve done the math… 302 verses recount Hezekiah’s 29 year reign, 38 verses describe the 55 years of Manasseh! How many verses will it take to tell your story, my friends?
Our old friend the prophet Isaiah died sometime during Manasseh’s horrible kingship. While his death is not recorded for us, some historians say he may be referred to in Hebrews 11:27 “…some were sawed in two…”. In king Manasseh’s determination to rid Israel of the God honoring spiritual advisors who had helped his father Hezekiah lead so well, Manasseh is reported to have killed many of them in horrible ways! Will the record show that you and I have spent our lifetime seeking to increase the fame of the Lord Jesus Chris, or marginalize Him by elevating ourselves or pursuing passions which pushed Jesus out of the picture?
Finally Manasseh died and his son Amon took the throne. You’ll recall that while a prisoner in Babylon Manasseh had repented of his terrible rebellion against God and God had miraculously restored him to the kingship, in Jerusalem. Even though Amon had watched this remarkable turn of history with his father, evidently he rejected it all and was a wicked king who quickly tried to turn the people away from God. This brief summary says it all: “Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace…and they made Josiah his son king in his place.” (2 Chron. 33:24) Amon had only been king 2 years, but the people could already see where his terrible leadership was taking them and they wanted no part of it!
Josiah was still a boy, only 8 years old, but there were many wise and God honoring men who had watched God work with his grandfather Manasseh and were ready to help Josiah grow into a God honoring leader. If you are an older person, are you like these older, wiser, God fearing advisors, who can help rescue the generations which follow us and are self-destructing before our very eyes?
For today I call us to consider the powerful potential of young people who have solid, reliable, God honoring mentors, as young Josiah did. Consider this record: “Josiah was 8 yrs old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his ancestor king David, not turning to the right or the left.
In the eight year of his reign (16 years old), while he was still young, he began to SEEK the God of his ancestors…” (2 Chron. 34:1-3)
Why? And what does it mean? Look around where you live. Look at all the boys age 8-16. What do you see? How would you characterize their behavior, their respect for adults, their hunger to learn, their priorities in life, their desire to be God honoring? Now look back… to when you were that age? What do you remember… about yourself and your priorities? Who were those adults who impacted your life then?
America is soon to inaugurate the oldest President in its history. Mr. Biden will turn 80 during his presidency! Probably every Biden advisor and cabinet member will be younger, in some cases much younger than he. In Josiah’s case it was the opposite. He had not chosen to be thrust into leadership at age 8, but it appears he quickly realized he needed wise elders advising him, teaching him, mentoring him. I’m sure several of those advisors focused on the important practical things of government leadership… military strength, the economy, foreign policy, homeland security, education etc.
But it appears to me, some recognized the most important thing Josiah could do as a young leader was develop himself spiritually. Does that sound familiar? Like Paul challenging Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4? Josiah needed to know God and be able to discern God’s leading of him, so he could then make wise leadership decisions for the people who were depending on him.
Every great leader before Josiah had proven the validity of that leadership principle… Hezekiah, Jotham, Uzziah, Joash, Jehoshaphat, Asa, Solomon and David. I’m sure Josiah had advisors who daily taught him the history of Israel and took great effort to point out the dramatic difference between those who had led well and the nation had prospered, and those who had failed miserably in their leadership. May I ask, who are those in who have preceded you, whom you have studied? What have you learned were the keys to God honoring character, strong and long lasting marriages, vocational success, leadership success and most of all, spiritual success? What are the keys to leaving a spiritually successful legacy? Who are those who have been your advisors and maybe even now are helping you SEEK God? Honestly now, who are those who tend to influence you AWAY from prioritizing your spiritual integrity and growth? Do you recognize the negative influence they are having on your life?
The record continues “In Josiah’s 12th year (age 20) he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of places of idol worship, Asherah poles, carved idols, and cast images. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down…” (2 Chron. 34:3-7) The next several verses give a detailed account of Josiah’s leadership in cleansing the land of the despicable idol worship of his father and grandfather.
Do you see the progression my friends? Josiah is forcibly installed as king at age 8 when his father is assassinated. Being a boy king was likely the last thing he wanted! But his nation needed him… not to be a boy but to be a king! Immediately advisors counsel and teach him. Through those impressionable young years Josiah develops an appetite to know God as the great leaders of Israel’s past did. At 16 when most boys are focused on sports or girls or getting their driver’s license, Josiah is passionately seeking spiritual maturity so he can learn to lead wisely. By age 20 that pursuit of God has awakened in him a disdain for the wicked influence of his father that he sees all around Jerusalem and young Josiah takes action to reverse the declining course of his nation by leading a nationwide purging of evil. Now I ask you… what would that look like in our day if the leaders in your country and mine first passionately sought to know God, then set about to remove from our societies anything that promoted wickedness or drew people away from the one, true, Almighty, Holy God and Jesus Christ?
I want us to stop right here…four weeks from today we’ll have only hours remaining in 2020. What if you and I took the next 29 days to do what Josiah did. Deepen our understanding of and relationship with God. Seek God with all our hearts. Pursue understanding God’s view of us and our world. Then take action: purge our lives from anything and everything that tends to draw us away from God or diminish our spiritual vitality.
My friends, what will it take for you and me to finish 2020 well, regardless of how difficult this year has been for us? There was nothing Josiah could do about the terrible year in which he was suddenly thrust onto the throne as they buried his father’s assassinated body. All he could do is focus his heart on becoming a much better man and leader than his father was. And that would require seeking to know God much better than his father did, and learning to lead people much differently than his father did. Josiah knew he’d have to learn to FOLLOW God’s leading of him, so he could then LEAD others wisely, and leave a much different legacy than his father left.
What Josiah didn’t know was that he was the last hope for Israel. We’ll look at that tomorrow. You and I don’t know what 2021 will bring. You may be the last hope for your family, your community, your business, maybe even your church! What we do know is we have just over 4 weeks to finish 2020 well and prepare for a new year which may very well be even more challenging than this year was! I propose the best way to do this is to do what Josiah did. Will you join me in this? I invite you to begin with Psalm 86 and I challenge you to memorize vs. 10-12! “Teach me Your way o LORD and I will walk in Your truth, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. I will praise You, O LORD my God, with all my heart, I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love toward me…”
And here’s a great song from Fernando Ortega to help us begin reflecting on our lives…our worth and what gives us satisfaction.
Almighty God, you know 2020 has been a terrible year for many people. We ask you to help us follow Josiah’s pattern… passionately SEEK you, seeking to know You, understand how You view 2020, and purge any wickedness from our lives, as we prepare for 2021. Holy Spirit of God we need YOU to guide us in this process, beginning today.
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Chronicles 34. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
NEW FEATURE: Click here to listen to a dramatized reading of 2 Chronicles 34.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
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)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.