“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6

This is the season where I cook and bake all the favorites things that our family enjoys. After many years of doing this, I mostly rely on my own muscle memory.  Most times I don’t even pull out the age-old recipes to read them because I mostly remember what they say…at least I thought I did.  When one of the recipes failed, I had to search the cabinet for my old book that held all the recipes from the generations before me to see what went wrong.  There was one ingredient I left out. That one ingredient made all the difference! 

I’m glad I still had the recipes that taught me from a young age how to cook and bake!  If I totally rely only on my own diminishing memory bank, I will leave important ingredients out, substitute an ingredient for another, or add ingredients that do not belong which leads to an epic fail that results in little sad faces who want to devour the original recipe!

In the beginning was the Word…What if the Word in written form was lost to us for a few generations?  As believers today, we have many Bibles on our shelves, by the couch, on our phones and in our computers—all readily available to us!  But what if all that was taken from us and hidden away for centuries? Worse yet, what if we decided we could live without the Word so we no longer read or referred to the Word as truth to guide us?

Would we remember all the ingredients considered right and true according to our Lord? Would we just rely on the few verses we memorized as children? What if important directions that give life and show us the path to truth were left out? After a few generations, what if what you thought was right in the eyes of the Lord, the recipe for living life, became a diluted, hazy, darkened form of the original?  

Human memory fails us. We must read the Word daily to stay close to the Standard that God the Word has given to us. Jesus, Son of God, who is God, is the Standard by which we live a life pleasing to God.  Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the treasure that we seek!  These wonderful words of life are found in this treasure that fulfills and proves the words God gave to the prophets.

From Genesis to Revelation—Truth is bound and delivered by the Son of God in the flesh.  We become a part of the story of God when we accept His offer of redemption. 

Josiah ruled for thirty-one years (640–609 B.C.) and walked in the ways of the Lord because David was his model. Josiah had heard of the Law, but didn’t know that the written Law God gave to Moses still existed.  Josiah was working from the standard of living that his forefather King David had provided, the one who loved, trusted, and obeyed God.  David wrote many songs about the Word, “your word is a lamp unto my feet”, for example, but young Josiah did not have the written Laws of God to learn and follow for himself.  This treasure had been put aside and stored in the broken down Temple.  But then God…

2 Chronicles 34

Josiah’s Reforms

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. ⁴ Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, ⁷ he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

⁸ In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

⁹ They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the gatekeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then they entrusted it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the Lord’s temple. These men paid the workers who repaired and restored the temple. ¹¹ They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.

¹² The workers labored faithfully. Over them to direct them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath. The Levites—all who were skilled in playing musical instruments— ¹³ had charge of the laborers and supervised all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were secretaries, scribes and gatekeepers.

The Book of the Law Found

¹⁴ While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him: “Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them. ¹⁷ They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

¹⁹ When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. ²⁰ He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: ²¹ “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”

²² Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

²³ She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. ²⁵ Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ ²⁶ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ²⁷ Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. ²⁸ Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”

So they took her answer back to the king.

²⁹ Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. ³¹ The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

³² Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

³³ Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The fate of a nation rises and falls with its leadership, and young King Josiah provided aggressive spiritual leadership for the people. He had been seeking the Lord for four years, and now he was prepared to cleanse the land of all that was not God by removing all the idols and their places of worship.

Josiah’s eighteenth year as king was indeed his best year yet! As a twenty-six-year-old; he ordered the extreme repair makeover of the temple. In the demo of repairing the Temple the Book of the Law, given to Moses, was discovered.  As he read it; he was convicted of the sins he and God’s people had committed so he made a covenant with the Lord. His reforms now had greater meaning.  Josiah then hosted a great celebration of Passover, that we will read about tomorrow (35:1–19).

How we respond to God’s Word is a good indication of our spiritual appetite and the strength of our desire to please the Lord.

Josiah’s actions prompt us to ask ourselves two crucial questions:

• How badly do we want to hear God’s Word and read it for ourselves?
• What is our response to God’s Word?

David, shepherd boy to becoming king and now the model for Josiah’s life was one who sought the heart of God.  In his seeking, God gave David His Word to rely on for life!

Psalm 19 reflects David delight of God’s Word. Notice how David describes God’s Word in verse 10:

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

David writes this amid trials and uncertainty and attacks from wicked people, David—a man after God’s own heart, focused first and foremost on one primary thought—David’s heart delighted in God’s Word.  When David faced Goliath, he did so because he knew God’s Word.  He wasn’t recklessly fearless. He was fearless because he knew God and His Word. He knew that God is the sovereign ruler of all things. He knew that God promised that he would preserve his people. God’s Word contains the unfailing promises of God!

David loved and cherished God’s Word!  Read all of Psalm 119 for proof of this statement of faith. David repeatedly proclaims how much he loves God’s Word. Here are a few important verses;

• “I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
  for I delight in your commands because I love them.” Psalm 119:46-47
• “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.” v. 72
• “Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.” Psalm 119:43
• “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.” vs. 125
• “Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.” vs. 136

These proclamations by David reveal his heart, his love for, and his respect for God’s Word. Remember, it is God’s Word that also equips us for service.  After Jesus returned to heaven, His called disciple, Paul, mentors Timothy with these words for life;

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul’s life had been radically changed by Jesus, the Word made flesh, and now Paul was passing this life-changing truth to Timothy.

If we want to be a man or woman “after God’s own heart,” we must be a lover of His Word. This is how we will do “everything He wants us to do.” Trust and obey for there’s no other way…we sing today, but do we really believe what we sing?

Lord,

We worship you alone.  We learn, grow, and mature in our faith by trusting and obeying your Word.  May Your Holy Spirit guide us to all Truth by your Word read.  May Your Holy Spirit then give us discernment with wisdom to live your Word.  Help us to demonstrate Truth to the world who is lost without it. May our hunger and desire for Your Word never cease until we see you face to face who is the Word.

In Jesus Name, Amen