Response to God's Word Part 2

Steven’s Scribbles
“Response to God’s Word Part 2” 
2 Kings 22


    Remember last week I wrote about King Jehoiakim and Jeremiah’s prophecy to him from God (Jeremiah 36). A great contrast to Jehoiakim’s arrogance and defilement of God’s word with the scribe’s knife is King Josiah. Josiah was just eight years old when King Amon died. When he was 26 years old, he sent Shaphan the Scribe to the temple. While there Shaphan talked to Hilkiah the high priest and they both read the book of the Law. Shaphan then read the same book to King Josiah. Unlike Jehoiakim, when Josiah discovered that Judah was in sin he mourned for God’s people. He sought out a prophetess to inquire more of God so that more destruction would not come upon Judah. God responded to Josiah by saying, “because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you” (2 Kings. 22:19). Josiah then made a covenant with the Lord and made reforms. He removed the idols from the temple of the Lord and destroyed both the Baals and the Asherah. Repentance is more than being sad for sin, it’s doing something about it. When we read of Jehoiakim and Josiah, we read of two different attitudes toward God. One says, “how dare God tell me how to live my life” while the other one says “how dare I tell God how I will live my life.” I love you all!


In His service,
Steven Hugley