AWAKE BIBLE IN A YEAR AUGUST 4
Read 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35
Josiah hears the words of the law. The book they found has words written about them. And they have failed miserably to keep the covenant. Josiah is aware and tears his robes.
Who can hear God’s will for the nation? Enter stage right, Huldah a prophet known as the wife of Shallum is consulted by the priest Hilkiah. She lives in the New Quarter. She tells them God is angry. Yet the LORD KNOWS those who take refuge in Him. Nahum 1:7 God saw Josiah humble himself. And he gives the word that Josiah won’t see the disaster that is most definitely coming. Josiah does a full about face from the former kings Jeroboam and Manasseh to fully follow the Lord. He demolishes long standing idols erected during the corrupting days of Solomon. He operates as a son of David. He fulfills the words of the prophet who predicted the destruction of the altar at Bethel. (1 Kings 13:2-5) He orders the nation to celebrate the Passover feast and they do so with extravagant offerings. He rids the land of all that is detestable to God. Zephaniah may have seen a glimmer of the remnant people in the actions of Josiah. Judah for 31 years is a purified nation, and they stand before the Lord as a faithful covenant people under the watch and rule of King Josiah.
What can I learn from this? Sometimes you cannot stop the judgments of God, but through your own authentic response to the wrongful actions around you, you can delay the inevitable and have a reprieve from the disaster to come.
How radical can we be against all that would defile us? Crush it, destroy it, and go after God with all your might. When sin no longer has opportunity, God is honored.
Do you think Jesus in the NEW COVENANT advocates this sort of radical purity? Check out Mark 9:43. If your hand causes you to sin…you may say, but CHAR—God gives grace for the sinner. Yes,HE DOES and HIS grace is to all men and YET IT enables all men to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Read it more clearly in Titus 2:11-14. Bottom line grace changes me.
