Hearing the Word and Preaching it:

Josiah was a very good king of Judah.  He was considered to be one of the best kings to come out of Judah.  He cared a lot about God and he cared a lot about being a good king to the people in his kingdom.  He is very much an encouragement considering a majority of the kings I had been reading about had fallen far away from God’s grace and laws.  They have not been considered Godly and they have often fallen into the camp of believing in other gods and goddesses.  

Something really exciting would come out of Josiah’s reign.  The Book of the Law was discovered.  The book was discovered by Hilkiah the high priest and Shaphan the secretary when they were in the House of the Lord.  The Book of the Law was brought and read for the king, Josiah.  Upon hearing God’s Word, Josiah actually tore his clothes. He was so emotional and so impacted by the words he was hearing from God.  He also knew the people and the kingdom as a whole, had not done a great job of following these precious words.  The people of Judah had forgotten their God many times throughout the years.  They had not honored or revered his words at all.  This broke Josiah’s heart.  He also knew there was a potential of God’s wrath because of the way the people have acted. 

The great thing about Josiah was that he didn’t stop there.  He didn’t get disappointed in himself or in his kingdom.  He didn’t wallow in self-pity, and he certainly didn’t decide to go back to the thinking he had before he heard the Book of the Law.  He let the words he heard from the Book impact the actions he made.  He did this through many different actions.  First, he went in front of the people in his kingdom and read the book of the Law or the Book of the Covenant for all to hear and pledged his own covenant with the Lord.  He decided he wanted to spend the rest of the days following all the laws (to the best of his ability, of course) that were written down.  All of the people in his kingdom agreed.  They then got rid of all the altars to other gods such as Baal, the sun, the moon, constellations, tore down the altars made for prostitution, and he got rid of all the priests he knew were not leading people towards the Lord.  

I don’t always let the words from the Bible impact my actions, specifically when it comes to how I talk about God’s Word with others.  Sure, I can do a fairly good job about reading and reflecting and spending time in prayer.  I try to be better with my patience and I try to be more focused on making God’s decisions, but I don’t always spend time speaking with others about what I have been learning in the Bible.  I don’t always let the words I hear in the morning impact how I talk to others throughout the day or to how I act throughout the day.  

Two verses I want to highlight about this topic from the Bible are from 1 John chapter 5, verses 2 and 3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.” I love these verses.  It is a good reminder to love God’s commandments and the words in the Bible.  When we really spend time loving God and his words, we show we are the children of God.  I also love the part about these laws not being burdensome.  They are not supposed to take the joy out of living, as we often think when we think of rules.  They are not supposed to suppress us or create a deep desire in our hearts for more.  Following God’s laws and commands frees us from a lot of other hardship that would otherwise be found in the world.  

This is one of the reasons I do love this blog.  This is really the only place where I really let what I am learning go to other people.  This is where I do spend a good amount of time thinking over the words I read from God and live it out in my day-to-day living.  I try to be aware of the impatience I can often show, the bad words sometimes come out of my mouth, and the bouts of jealousy and bitterness occurring inside my head.  I am also aware of the items or the habits that would be better off getting rid of in my life even though I have kept them in because I like having them around.  

This week I have a big challenge.  My big challenge is to spend time in prayer about what you have been learning in the Bible or church with one person.  This can be a friend who goes to church with you, a coworker who you are close to, or a family member.  I always want to let what I have learned stay with me, but now I need to know I need to speak these thoughts out loud and speak these words of wisdom to everyone who is around me.   I am challenging myself to do the same as I am challenging you.  

P.S. I do want to say that if you do read my blogs a lot, the last couple of weeks have been about the kings of Judah and Israel.  I know I have mentioned it, but I do really want to highlight the work done by Lysa Terkeurst in her devotional study book, “Trustworthy; A study of 1 and 2 Kings.”  It really has been a good study for me these last few weeks.  I have learned so much about the kings, yes, but also about how it applies to my life and how it can apply to every Christian’s life.  I do want to give a high recommendation to do this study sometime.  This can be done either in a small group or by yourself, like I am doing.