THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. The king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. The king of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother of Jehoahaz, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles from the temple of the Lord and put them in his temple there.

The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, together with articles of value from the temple of the Lord, and he made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

2 Chronicles 36:2-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The end of Josiah’s reign marked a turn for the worse regarding the spiritual health of the southern kingdom of Judah. All the reforms he had put in place, all the hard efforts to return the people’s hearts and minds back to God were put to rest by a series of kings who took Judah and its people to the point of no return.

It started with Josiah’s son, Johoahaz.

Scripture tells us that he had only been in reign for three months when he was dethroned by Necho, the king of Egypt. You’ll recall that God had been using Necho and his Egyptian army to carry out His will and when Josiah decided to challenge that, he was killed by an archer’s arrow. If only he had heeded Necho’s warning, we may be reading a different excerpt in Judah’s history but that’s not what happened. Josiah was killed, his son Jehoahaz assumed the throne briefly before being removed from power by Necho who imposed a heavy tax on the people of Judah and chose his own king to rule Judah, Jehoahaz’s brother, Eliakim, who Necho renamed Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was carried off to Egypt and never mentioned again in the scriptures.

So how did Jehoiakim rule? It sure wasn’t like his father, that’s for sure.

God’s word tells us that during his eleven year reign he did detestable evil acts in the eyes of the Lord his God before he was attacked by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who bound him with bronze shackles and took him and articles from the Lord’s temple to Babylon. Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin.

Maybe now things would turn around, right?

Wrong.

Jehoiachin only ruled for three months and ten days but that was long enough for him to evil in the eyes of the Lord just as his father had and uncle had done. Fittingly, he went the same route that his father did and was brought to Babylon along with more temple articles by King Nebuchadnezzar. He was replaced in rule by his uncle, Zedekiah.

Would the trend of evil be reversed now?

Not quite.

For we find in our passage that Zedekiah was as bad if not worse than his other evil predecessors. Over his eleven years on the throne, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. Scripture tells us that Zedekiah became stiff-necked and hardened his heart, refusing to turn to the Lord. And his leaders followed his lead, becoming more and more unfaithful to God while following all the detestable practices of other  nations and defiling the temple of the Lord. The Lord tried and tried to turn His people away from their sin and unbelief and back toward Him and His righteousness because He had pity on them but the people were too far gone. They mocked His messengers, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets.

In other words, the people of Judah had reached the point of no return.

The first indicator comes at the very end of our passage when we learn that the Lord’s wrath was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

No remedy.

In other words, there was nothing that the people could do to avoid God’s punishment and judgment. And this is no place that anyone should want to be.

As we’ll see, the people of Judah will be taken away from the Promised Land and spend seventy years in captivity in Babylon, the only thing saving them from complete annihilation being God’s promise with David to always leave an Israelite remnant in Jerusalem. And we know God always keeps His promises.

So what is our take away from this scripture passage today?

None of us should think we’re going to continue to get away with shunning God in our lives without consequence.

We’re expected to respect and revere God for who He is, the Master of all things. We are subordinate to Him and are to bow down and hold Him in more esteem than anyone else in life. No one, and I mean no one, is more worthy of all our honor, glory, and praise – now and forever.

If you’ve turned away from God toward sin and unbelief, know He longs to have you back in His favor, obedient to all He expects and wills. Know He is a patient Lord but know as well that His patience has its limits. He will not be ignored, He will not be slighted, He will not be scoffed, and He will not stand for being rejected.

If you’re not willing to reverse your course and return to Him, you will reach a point of no return like the Judean Israelites, and face God’s consequence and correction, intended to teach through discipline before opening up opportunities for repentance and a return to the fullest extension of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love, just like the prodigal son of Christ’s parable (Luke 15:11-32).

My prayer today is that you never get to the point of no return, that you will bow down before your God and confess of your wrongs, receiving His pardon and returning fully to His service, will, and way.

The bottom line is that we have a choice. We can choose God’s favor or judgment.

Only someone not in their right mind would choose judgment.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

GOD’S WILL IS GOING TO BE DONE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.

The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance with what is written in the Law of the Lord—all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

2 Chronicles 35:20-27, 36:1

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We can be a stubborn people at times. So often, we just want our way when it comes to life, even when we believe in a God who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, a God who always ensures that His will is done whether we cooperate with Him or not.

Maybe this starts when we are children. Remember those days when you challenged the authority of your parents constantly. They had a will for us and our lives and it seems like we made a business out of rebelling against their wishes. Maybe you are a parent reading this today and seeing it in your own children.

Yes, we seem to have such a hard time submitting to the will of the Lord even when we pray for it to come. You’ll recall the words of what has been historically known as the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, the prayer that includes a petition for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is done in heaven (Matthew 6:9-13). We say these words but do we really mean them? Do we really desire for God’s will to be done in our world and in our lives?

I would say that it doesn’t matter what we want. For God’s will is going to be done one way or another. We can either accept it or reject it but we should take caution in rejecting anything that the Lord is trying to do as we may do so to our demise.

If you want a point-in-case regarding this, look at today’s passage as we look at the final part of King Josiah’s life. You’ll recall that Josiah had done nothing but great work in the name of the Lord, restoring the Judean Israelites to loyal and faithful service and worship unto God and God alone, just as He had commanded, just as He had desires. There was no doubt that it was God’s will for the people of Israel to live in full, uncompromising obedience to Him. It was His will. And when the people chose to chase after their own desires, desires which often led them to worship false gods, we found that God brought His judgment on the people with the intent of bringing them back to His will, a will He had for them to serve and worship Him and Him alone.

Josiah had shown sound judgment during his reign, stringently remaining loyal to God and as a result, he and the people of Judah flourished. All was good, that is until Josiah decided to challenge the will of God he had once been so committed to. Look at the passage once again:

After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo. Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.

The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance with what is written in the Law of the Lord—all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

Scripture tells us that a conflict was on the horizon. Necho, the king of Egypt, was poised for a battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates. Necho had no beef with Josiah and was not attacking him and yet Josiah brought his fighting forces forward to challenge Necho and his army. It was at this juncture that Necho tried to explain to Josiah about why he was entering into war. Look again at his words:

“What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

It wasn’t Necho’s will to do what he was doing. It was strictly God’s will and that will didn’t include Josiah being involved. In fact, Necho basically told Josiah that if he warred against him and his Egyptian forces, he wasn’t opposing Egypt but rather God and that would not result in a favorable outcome for Josiah who should have known better as a devout man of faith.

But Josiah was bent on doing his own thing. He should have just turned around and returned to Jerusalem with his men but he didn’t. He chose to challenge God and His will and as we read that didn’t turn out well for Judah’s king.

For Josiah refused to listen to Necho and instead decided to disguise himself and engage in battle, as if he could conceal himself from the God who sees and knows everything, a God who can never be deceived. It would be a lethal decision as an archer's arrow struck Josiah and he died in Jerusalem after being taken from the battlefield. It was a sad way for a dedicated man of God to end his life but through Josiah’s death, God’s word is trying to teach us an important lesson:

God’s will is going to be done, no matter what.

We would be well served to pay attention to this lesson and not challenge God’s will in our own lives. Let us all remain devoted to the words of our Savior, praying for God’s will to be done in our world and in our lives, asking Him to use us as instruments of His will, and then placing our total faith and trust in Him as He does just that.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

A FUNDAMENTAL CALL TO ACTION

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord:

“Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.”

“Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people. Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand cattle—all from the king’s own possessions. His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle. Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites.

The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered. The Passover lambs were slaughtered, and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals. They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people. After this, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.

The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.

So at that time, the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered. The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 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 did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

2 Chronicles 35:1-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Different structured liturgical worship services I have attended contain an item titled “A Call To Worship.” As we look at the opening verses of 2 Chronicles, Chapter 35, we find Josiah calling his people to worship. You’ll recall that the sacrament of Passover had not been celebrated since the time of Solomon before King Hezekiah reinstituted it during his reign. As Josiah continues to reform, he now continues what Hezekiah reestablished.

Scripture tells us that the Passover lamb was sacrificed on the 14th day of the first month according to the tradition established when the Lord commanded Moses while the Israelites were in Egyptian captivity (Exodus 12). The process was detailed well in this passage as follows:

Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple. He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord:

“Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.”

“Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people. Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand cattle—all from the king’s own possessions. His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle. Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites.

The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered. The Passover lambs were slaughtered, and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals. They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people. After this, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.

The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.

So at that time, the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered. The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 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 did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Josiah and the Judean Israelites had just recently found the Book of the Law (also referred to as the Book of Moses) and they wasted little time following its guidance in carrying out the Passover celebration. The sacrifices were offered appropriately and the people then carried on with the Festival of Unleavened Bread for the prescribed seven days as the Israelites answered the call to worship fervently and happily.

But Josiah didn’t just call his people to worship. He expected so much more than that from them. For look at his words again as he spoke to the Levites whom the scriptures tell us instructed all of Israel:

“Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.”

His words ring out from the Lord, not just for the Levites and the Judean Israelites, but for us as well today.

“Serve the Lord your God and His people.”

Josiah’s exhortation is a fundamental call for action for all followers of the Lord. For at the heart of the Lord is service to those He loves so very much. This is totally evident in the life of His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, the One through which Christians today form their identity. To be Christian is to be Christ-like and to be Christ-like is to be a selfless, loving servant, one who places the welfare of others well beyond their own. It’s what led Jesus to the cross of Calvary to suffer a criminal’s death, paying the penalty for the sins of all mankind. He willingly paid the price so we wouldn’t have to and as if that wasn’t enough, He died and rose again on the third day, ascending to the right hand of God so we too might follow Him in resurrection one day. The only thing we need to do to get there is to place our belief and trust in Jesus as our Savior. That’s it.

Too easy right.

But be ready for something to happen well beyond securing your place in eternity when you choose to allow Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life. For when you accept Him into your heart, He will change and transform you from the inside out, making you into the new creation that the Apostle Paul speaks about in his second letter to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 5:17) and Paul certainly knew a little but about being transformed and changed by Christ.

Part of the transformation all believers in Christ experience is the yearning and willingness to place themselves second so others can be first, ready and eager to sacrifice and do what it takes to make a difference in the life of another, even if it means having to die for them.

Josiah said, “Serve the Lord your God and His people” and no one did that more perfectly than Jesus. He answered the fundamental call to action and showed us how to do likewise. He then offered us His own call. Consider His words:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Friends, following the Lord faithfully involves proactiveness not passivity. We are called to basic actions that we’re required to take. They are not optional for Jesus never opted not to care for, teach, heal, instruct, and save those who He came in contact with. He was never too busy for those who were in need and as we seek Him and follow His will and way, He will lead us to a life that models His own.

I can say from experience that there is no greater life we can life than this, a life that selflessly sacrifices and seeks to serve others with an unconditional love that transcends understanding, the kind of love that only comes from Jesus Christ living and abiding in our hearts and minds. My prayer for you is that you will have the same experience in your life.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

RENEWING YOUR COVENANT

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep His commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

2 Chronicles 34:29-33

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It’s easy to get into a routine in life, isn’t it?

When you get right down to it, we’re all creatures of habit at heart. From our earliest childhood days, we find calm reassurance in structure. We all love to find a comfort zone, a place where we have peace and serenity from the helter-skelter nature of living.

Routine isn’t always bad but there are times when we need to step back and assess what we’re doing to ensure we are doing what we need to be doing, to ensure we aren’t missing some improvement to make a good life even better.

This is particularly important when we consider our spiritual life. I say this because if we’re not careful we can be consumed by the world and all its trappings. Our routines can pull us into a time vacuum that threatens to suck up the hours, minutes, and seconds in each day until we fail to take adequate time to spend with the Lord. When something has to give in our daily routine, unfortunately it seems that what goes first are critical aspects of our spiritual life like prayer or the reading of God’s word. Life’s commitments push aside the commitment we are to have to God, the One who never changes His commitment to us.

And so from time to time, we need to assess where we are, to look at how we’re spending our time and ensure that we are eating into our quality time with God. We need to always renew our covenant with Him, to reassert our willingness to make Him part of the life He blesses us with.

As we look at the final verses of Chapter 34 of 2 Chronicles, we find King Josiah and the Israelites of Judah doing just this, renewing their covenant before the Lord. Look again at our scripture for today:

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep His commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

You’ll recall that the people in Judah had been in their own routine. They had been doing good things in the name of the Lord, following the lead and direction of King Josiah, but as we learned, there was one very important thing missing. The people had not had the Book of Law containing God’s commands, statutes, decrees, and expectations, the book that had been given to Moses. Essentially, the people had allowed themselves to enter into living daily without having the word of God present.

Once the book was found and read to Josiah, he realized how much its content was needed to avoid living in sin and sparking the wrath and judgment of God. He realized that this is indeed what had happened as their ancestors had not lived in accordance with God’s word either. Josiah would learn that consequences were coming for Judah but because he humbly repented, those penalties would not come during his time in rule.

Now, Josiah could have left things there. He had the assurance from the Lord that no punishment would come upon him or Judah during his reign and could have left it like that. But this wasn’t the makeup of Josiah, the king who had worked so hard to reform the Judean kingdom and its people.

We read where Josiah summoned all his people together from the least to the greatest and had all of the word of the Book of Law read to them. They needed to understand what God’s word said as well as the Judean leadership. And after the word of the Lord was read, Josiah and all the people renewed their covenant with God, reestablishing a promise to remain faithful to His word, will, and way. The people vowed to follow the Lord and obey all of His commands, statutes, and decrees with all their heart and soul.

As a result, the people remained faithful to the Lord, His word, and His expectations during the entire period of Josiah’s reign.

Friends, we need to learn from this important scripture and take a look at how we are living. We need to honestly and humbly examine whether we, like the Judeans, have allowed the word of God and its associated guidance to be lost and thus not followed. And if we find we have failed to follow His word and will in any way, then we need to repent of our sin and recommit ourselves to follow Him and be obedient to His word, to renew our covenant with Him and vow to be as faithful to Him as He is to us.

If we do this and do it fully with all our heart and mind and soul, then we can expect to find the same result as the Judean Israelites. For we will discover ourselves living in righteousness and obedience for all the days He blessed us with and in doing so, living the way He wants us to live.

There’s no better place to be.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com