Good King/Bad King

Josiah was one of the last kings of Judah (2 Kings 22-23) and one of the only to have “good” written about the character of his reign. It says he “followed in the steps of his ancestor King David, obeying the Lord completely.” In the 18th year of his reign, the High Priest found a scroll with God's laws on it and took it to Josiah. At that time God was going to destroy the city, as the people of Judah had thrown him aside and had worshiped other gods. But, since Josiah was repentant, God postponed the destruction of the nation until after he died. The amazing thing about the story in chapter 23 is the list of everything he destroyed in an effort to keep the solemn promise he and the priests made to the Lord to obey him at all times and do everything the book commanded. It talks of destroying statues and shrines built for other gods by former kings that still existed, digging up graves and burning the bones on altars, and crushing all these things into dust. At the end of the story, it says of Josiah, “there was no other king who so completely turned to the Lord and followed all the laws of Moses; and no king since the time of Josiah has approached his record of obedience.” If only we could take God's commands and principles as seriously as Josiah did, what would be said of us? Would God delay judgment on a nation because of a person or group of people with a repentant heart and a desire to obey him in every aspect of life and rid our lives of sin? Yea for Friday! (This picture of Geronimo, my former dog who ran away, has nothing to do with the words above....I like pictures when I read!)