Written By Ben Dankaka
Meditation – Proverbs 2:6
It was at a time when the kingdom of Israel was divided. Jerusalem and Judah had joined the ways of their neighbors, worshiping other gods. They carved idols and cast images. Instead of honoring God, they dishonored Him by building evil altars. They even carried carved images and put it in God’s temple – the very temple that Solomon had built in honor of God. But the people’s evil act was largely due to bad leadership. Leaders, such as Manasseh led the people astray to the extent that they did more evil than the nations that God had destroyed before the Israelites. Because of the evil ways of their leaders, the people of Judah couldn’t serve God.
However, it was clear that the leaders also didn’t have a sense of direction. They only did what they felt was the right thing to do. But as things got from bad to worse, an eight year old boy, named Josiah emerged as king of Judah. When he turned 18, at a time he could make decisions for himself, he began to seek God. By the time he was 22 years of age, when he had garnered enough strength and courage, he began some reforms. Under his leadership, the people destroyed the carved images and the evil altars. By the time he was 26, he decided to purify his country and repair the temple that had been defiled.
It was while they were repairing the temple that Hilkiah, the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. Prior to that time, the Book had been missing. When the contents of the Book were read to the young king, he tore his clothes in fear. The king discovered that all along, the people of Judah had not acted in accordance with all that is written in the Book. It became clear that one of the reasons why the leaders of Judah had been leading the people astray was because they didn’t know what was written in the Book. Because the people didn’t know what God actually wanted them to do, they had been doing the wrong thing, following the gods of foreign nations.
This story captures the importance of information. Perhaps, if the people had been aware of the information contained in the Book of Law they wouldn’t have gone astray to that extent. Today, there are many Christians in the same situation. Because they do not study the word of God, they have gone astray, following the ways of the world. Today, there are Christians who are trying to solve their own problems by themselves because they do not know what Christ said about those problems. Many Christians are trying to do things that Christ has already done. Because they do not read the Bible they are being led astray by false prophets. I hope we will all discover the truth as Josiah did.
Prayer: Lord, reveal the truth to me. Amen.
REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Proverbs 15:14; 2Chronicles 34:14-15
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.