Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: 2 Kings 23 and Psalm 140

The reformation of Judah under King Josiah was truly a work of the Lord’s sovereign power. Imagine a nation where God and His Word have been so thoroughly ignored and rejected that they have become unheard of. It’s not that very few are following Him – no one worships and serves the Lord anymore. All have turned away to the worship of idols and to sexual immorality. Even the temple of the Lord has been repurposed for pagan worship.

Into that deep spiritual darkness steps Josiah. He knows that previous kings have been murdered when they have become unpopular. Yet he is so deeply moved by hearing God’s Word read to him that Josiah gathers all the VIP’s of Judah, and publicly cuts a covenant with the LORD, to turn away from the people’s false gods and to worship and serve the LORD with all his heart and all his soul. I’m sure you could have knocked him over with a feather when, one by one, the elders and people of Judah followed his example. The Holy Spirit was moving in power, drawing people’s hearts back to the LORD.

But Josiah didn’t stop with words of good intention. He was a man of action. In his passionate zeal for the Lord, he quite literally targeted all the sacred cows of Judah’s idolatry. The golden calves of Jeroboam were torn down, the altars to pagan gods were ripped out of the temple and burned to ashes, the living quarters housing male prostitues who performed sexual acts with worshipers of Asherah were destroyed. This was an utterly radical and thorough reformation and purification. Josiah’s purifying work extended to every corner of Judah.

Verse 25 reads like an inscirption on a tomb: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”

Our discipleship question for today is: Could that also be written on my tombstone? “He turned to the Lord with with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength?” If not, what will I do to change that?

Heavenly Father, renew in me a passionate zeal for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and for the honour of Your Name. Empower me to not only speak of my desire to serve You wholeheartedly, but also to put my words into action in approproate ways. Amen.