Josiah

By Guest Writer

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 22:1-20, 2 Kings 23:1-15, 2 Kings 23:21-27

Even though I’ve been a Christian for more than thirty years, I began to read the Bible with intentional regularity only in the last decade when immigration and a severe burnout that changed the course of my vocation made my need for it clear. Until then, my interaction with Scripture was limited to Sundays at church and Bible study in a small group whenever I was part of one. Every once in a while, I’d try to read through a book of the Bible on my own.

These occasional habits made a dent when they happened. But without a personal investment, the dent was only so deep. The choices that shaped my life were largely based on self-sufficiency. Scripture was not something I thought I needed, at least not regularly. When my self-reliance proved insufficient to navigate pivotal changes in my life, I became desperate to know God and His character—more than just about Him. This changed my relationship with His Word, which, in turn, changed me as I tried to obey what I was learning. A seemingly small change on the outside—the reordering of my schedule to make time to read the Bible intentionally over time—changed my life from the inside. The narratives I read in the Bible began to challenge the ones in my head. The more I read Scripture with the intent to know God, the more it read me. One book and story at a time, I found a God bigger than us and yet closer than our breath. Such understanding informs and changes how we pattern our lives.

In today’s readings, we see this in Josiah. His response revealed his heart. Upon learning what God said in Scripture, he mourned. His grief showed sorrow for things that should have been right but weren’t and lament for the terrible consequences of being apart from God.

This informed Josiah’s resolve “to follow the LORD and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul” (2Kings 23:3)—a promise he made publicly and followed with a series of drastic reforms.

King Josiah destroyed the places where people engaged in practices that had become commonplace, despite them being an affront to God and the people themselves—including human sacrifice! The elimination of these places and other sources of disobedience made way for life-giving practices, including observing the Passover of the Lord (v.21).

Josiah did not come from the best lineage, nor was he full of life experience. Yet despite the troubled legacy he inherited, Josiah chose to honor God instead. He patterned his decisions according to what he learned was God’s desire for His people. His reforms reconfigured a way of life that agreed with God’s heart.

Is there an area of your life where obedience would bring it in agreement with God? What has God shown you that you can start obeying today?

Written by Paola Barrera