|
A Voice of Hope
Then young Josiah was crowned king at the age of eight. He was just a boy, but a determined one, who was to mature into God's ideal of manhood. At age sixteen he passionately sought the mind of God by which to direct his life. At twenty he realized how Manasseh had turned back the clock which Hezekiah had set for spiritual recovery of Israel, and made it his goal to restore the nation's soul. At this point he took action.
"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, in accordance with the Law of Moses."
(2 Kings 23:25)
His first steps were to remove the idols and degrading altars. Then, at age 26, taking another page from Hezekiah's life, he began the cleansing of the temple, noting that its condition was a symptom of the attitudes of the culture around him, a culture created by the corrupt leadership of Manasseh. Even those charged with the maintenance of the temple had neglected their duty (probably for fear of their lives). Imagine the condition of that House of God, its interior a shambles, signs of idol worship throughout, and certainly an exterior that held no reflection of its former glory.
What an example to us in these troubled times! Josiah challenged the religious, business, and financial leaders of his time to come clean before God. He was not afraid of the controversy or negative backlash they would undoubtedly hurl in his direction. He did what he knew he must do in order to please God. Josiah knew his priorities, and he knew that his nation's only hope was to turn the hearts of people towards God.
Margaret Thatcher recognized this truth when she said to the Church of Scotland:
"The truths of the Judaic-Christian tradition are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace in the true meaning of the word for which we all long... There is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to something greater than themselves. Political structures, state institutions, collective ideals are not enough. We parliamentarians can legislate for the rule of law. You, the Church, can teach the life of faith."
Daniel Webster said in 1823:
"If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; if the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end."
|
