Read: 2 Kings 22-23
What should one do when it is discovered that everything one has been taught and grown up with dishonors God? This was the position in which King Josiah found himself. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the Book of God’s Law was discovered. Upon hearing God’s Word, Josiah humbly and remorsefully acknowledged Judah’s neglectful disregard of the law. That was step one.
Then the king summoned an assembly at the temple of the Lord where he read for them all the words of the Book of the Law. Josiah renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord, and the people recommitted themselves to the covenant as well.
Josiah also responded with action by removing and burning the idols from the temple, destroying the images, altars, and sacred pillars of the false gods. He destroyed the golden calves of Jeroboam, rid Judah of the pagan worship of the heavenly bodies, and put an end to occult practices and other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem.
King Josiah reinstated the Passover celebration and it was unlike any that Israel had seen since before the time of the judges. Josiah sought the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength and led his people to do the same.
PRAYER PROMPT: Father, may we seek you with all our heart, soul, and strength. Help us put to death what belongs to the flesh, which is idolatry. Renew our minds and transform our lives so that we may be more like Christ.
Kevin Carrothers serves as director of missions for Salem South Baptist Association and is concluding his second one-year term as IBSA President.