Idol Smashing!

This morning I read in 2 Kings chapter 23--all about Josiah King of Judah, son of Amon, grandson of Manasseh--a HORRIBLE king--and great-grandson of Hezekiah. Josiah is the one who became king at 8 years old, found the Book of the Covenant, and did some pretty awesome idol bashing! He even went a step farther than Hezekiah and went into Israel (who were in captivity at this point), and took out their old idols/high places/priests/etc!

Josiah is described similarly to Hezekiah-- "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..." (2 Kings 23:25a) That's pretty serious!

However, even after all Josiah did, God's anger (incited by Manasseh) did not cool down this time. But God did promise that Josiah would not see the destruction of Judah in his lifetime. In the end, Josiah was killed in a battle with Pharaoh Neco.

Josiah is an amazing role model to any Christian, even though he's an Old Testament hero. I mean, can you imagine this guy? The last two kings were seriously wicked guys! Nearly sixty years have passed since the reign of good king Hezekiah, and the people are once again settled in their evil ways, even sacrificing their children and building other altars in the Temple!! And then Josiah comes along, finds the Book of the Covenant, and makes all these drastic changes. He must have faced so much opposition! Yet he didn't compromise, and tore down EVERYTHING.

The question we can be asking ourselves is, do we really want to serve the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? And if so, what idols do we need to tear down in our own hearts?

~~~

Change the world!!

In Christ,
Ellie

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

People Matter

Image
Today was one of those first time experiences that I'll never forget. I've been a part of our local Church Body - Southwest Wake Christian Assembly (SWCA) - for right around eight years, and although we've had a dozen births and a handful of marriages, we've never had a death of one of Body members. One of our oldest members, Mr. Bob, was just transferred to Hospice this week with likely only a few more days to live on this earth. The whole situation was rather sudden - I knew he'd struggled with health issues for a while and was weak, but I didn't realize how close he's been to death. Today I got to visit him. Unfortunately, he was sound asleep the whole time, but I still got to talk and sing loudly to him. Even if he didn't hear anything I said or sang, I'm sure God will pass along the message when Mr. Bob falls into His embrace. I admit, I cried. It was emotional seeing him there, knowing he won't be here for much longer. I was also sad tha
Read more

Gracious Speech - Part 2

Image
In my last blog post, we looked at the attributes of Jesus' speech, seeing that we are to follow his example. One of those attributes is that he was submissive to the Father, both in word and deed. Today, we're going to look at some of those verses where Jesus submits to the Father, and by doing so shows his authority. ~~~ "Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" ~ Mt. 3:15-17 Sometimes, from our time in prayer, reading in the Word, and/or a rebuke from a brother or sister in Christ, we can wonder why God wants us to do something or do it a certain way. In following Jesus' example, we should be quick to answer
Read more

Dance Before the Lord

Image
Today I read 2 Samuel 6. This is when David and all of Israel are bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The first time is a failure (the dude touches the Ark and dies, David gets spooked, and lets some other guy take care of it for a while), but I focused my study on the second part of the chapter, when they're bringing it in again the right way. It says that David danced before the Lord (and subsequently all of Israel) with "all his might". There were shouts, and trumpets, and other musical instruments blaring, I'm sure. Then David began "leaping and dancing" in celebration and thankfulness before the Lord. Not only is David held in honor by the people for this whole-hearted display (as we find out later in the chapter), but David also blesses the people by giving them all food. However, David's wife Michal (Saul's daughter), despises and condemns David for his dancing, saying that he made an utter fool of himself before the people.
Read more