by Recently, I reread the story of King Josiah in 2 Kings, and marveled at how applicable it seems in light of where God has opened the eyes of our understanding this past year.
Josiah became king at the age of eight. Ten years later, at age eighteen, God tells us in 2 Kings 22:8, that in the course of repairing the temple,a book of the law was discovered anew after evidently having been lost…interesting to note here, is that the scribe bringing news of this lost book, doesn’t seem to give its discovery the great importance it deserves. If you go to the passage and read verses 8-10, maybe you’ll see what I mean.
But King Josiah’s own reaction to this discovery is one of heartbreak. 2 Kings 22:11 tells us,
“And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.”
If you keep reading, in verse 13 he says to four of his trusted men,
“Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.”
God answers King Josiah, in verses 15-20, through Huldah the prophetess, but it is verse 19 that really speaks to me, in light of my own belief that God is calling us to greater discernment of modern bible versions in these end times,
“Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.”
King Josiah immediately called for the people and read the book of the law to them, and with the people, made a covenant to the Lord promising to walk in His ways, keep all his commandments, testimonies and statutes with their whole hearts and souls, according to every word in the book. Th
en the king proceeded to purge his land from idols and all things pagan. It’s an amazing story of a king totally ignorant of the depths to which his forefathers had been disregarding God’s ways and His words. But God saw Josiah’s tender heart, his keen brokenness over the things he’d unknowingly done, and God had mercy.
Wow. I really identify with this. For me, discovering the KJV is like a treasure I found buried in a field…the more my eyes became open to the stakes of this issue, the more my heart was broken over my own areas of blindness, broken yet awestruck at God’s majesty and holiness. Now my daily prayer is for God’s word to be a “light unto my path”, to keep me from stumbling, from deception, to renew my mind, and transform my every way.
