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Obey All the Way |
Josiah, An Obedient King
Good morning everyone. Our
Christian leadership characteristic for the month is OBEDIENCE.
Our slogan is OBEY ALL THE WAY.
Our memory verse this week is
Genesis 18:19, “For I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him, and they shall keep the
way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
I hope the 2-part study on Noah
building the ark was helpful in your daily studies. The study we
begin today will also be a two-part study. Our study today is
from the record of 2 Kings 22:1-23:30 and from 2 Chronicles
34:1-35:27. It is the record of one of the most faithful kings
Judah or Israel ever had. His name was Josiah. He ruled during
the Mosaic dispensation in the 10th Bible time period of Judah
Alone. He ruled for 31 years. The northern kingdom of Israel had
fallen to the Assyrians in 721 B.C. Only the southern kingdom of
Judah was still standing. Four kings and 23 years after Josiah’s
reign, Judah was destined to fall into the hands of the
Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. It was only Josiah’s
faithfulness to God that kept it from happening in his reign (2
Kgs. 22:18-20). I know that Josiah is a great example of
obedience because it was God who said there was “no king before
him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all
his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law…” (2
Kgs. 23:25). When we keep in mind that God described David “as a
man after God’s own heart,” we realize the depth of devotion and
faithfulness that Josiah must have had. Josiah truly did obey
all the way. Let’s look at some lessons from his life.
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His mother greatly influenced his
obedience to God. His mother’s name was Jedidah. A young man of
eight does not know about God without being taught. Nor does he
gain an understanding of the importance of obedience to God
without being taught diligently to obey both his elders and God.
It is easy to grow up wicked. If parents always take the path of
ease in raising their child, sinful living is the natural result
for the children. Proverbs 22:15 tells us that “Foolishness is
bound up in the heart of a child…” Again, Prov. 29:15, says that
a “child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Josiah
was no such child. He was a child taught, guided and corrected
by a wise mother (definitely not his father in this case). He
brings to mind the commendation Paul gave to the mother and
grandmother of Timothy in 2 Tim. 1:5. Parents, it does take
study, work and example to raise our children to be full of
faith and obedience. It is the hard way of parenting while they
are with you. But it is worth it, for you will be blessed to see
the results in the adulthood and eternity of your faithful
children.
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Josiah accepted his own
accountability to God at age 16. There has always been much
discussion about the age of accountability. Under patriarchal
and Mosiac law, it seems that parents were largely responsible
for the actions of their children until they reached the age of
twenty. Only those who had been under the age of twenty were
allowed to enter the promised land after the wilderness
wandering (Ex. 14:22-32), indicating that they had no say in the
choice not to enter the land. Job was the family priest for his
grown children (Job 1:4-5). Having said that, there are a number
of cases of young men who took on exceptional spiritual
responsibility at a relatively young age. Josiah, here at the
age of 16 takes ownership of his faith and his kingdom. Jehoash
took the throne at age 7 and was faithful to God for almost 40
years. Jesus was fully aware of his responsibility to serve God
at the age of 12. All of this shows that children mature and
make commitments at various ages. Anyone who has read about
Timothy, in the book Graduation to Glory cannot doubt his
accountability when he was less than 12 years. I have
occasionally met some very spiritually aware young men and women
who were not yet teens. I know this, young people, you should
live your life so that your attitudes and actions let “no one
despise thy youth” (1 Tim. 4:12). Like Josiah, you should
“Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth” (Eccl.
12:1). Youth is not an excuse for disobedience. It is a time to
take charge of your spiritual growth.
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Josiah used his influence to help
others obey. Paul said in Rom. 14:7, “None of us liveth to
himself and no man dieth to himself.” Righteous Abel and many
other faithful long since dead and buried are still influencing
men to obey God (Heb. 11:4-12:4). Josiah did not try to serve
God in secret. He did not leave other men alone to worship and
serve as they pleased. He was unashamed to let it be known that
he wanted to know what God said (2 Kgs. 23:2). After finding out
what God said, he did everything within his power to get the
citizens of kingdom to obey the Lord. He did not have to do
these things, but he took the stand of a leader. He understood
that when you drop a pebble in a pond, the ripples move the
water until they have influenced the entire pond. He first made
a covenant to follow God and the scripture also says that, “all
the people stood to the covenant” (2 Kgs. 23:3). Friends, most
people are followers. In a way, that is unfortunate because such
folks are easily swayed by the charisma of a leader and not
necessarily by what is right or wrong. If people are to obey,
they need obedient leaders. They need men who will boldly and
confidently stand in the gap and say, “as for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:5).
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Josiah found the truth because he
had an honest desire to honor and follow God.
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He accepted God’s word as the
authoritative standard.
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Josiah followed the law and
restored the true worship of God.
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His obedience included fighting
against sin in the land.
We will finish this lesson about
Josiah tomorrow. May I encourage you to obey all the way.
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Studies by Mike Glenn |
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